SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
A general strike and mass protests in Greece brought parts of the country to a halt on Friday on the second anniversary of its deadliest rail crash. As Lydia Emmanouilidou reports from Athens, hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have turned out.
(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST HORNS BLOWING)
LYDIA EMMANOUILIDOU: Demonstrators packed the streets around the Greek Parliament, shoulder to shoulder for blocks, honoring those who died when two trains collided head-on in February 2023, killing 57. Their rallying cry - den echo oxygono - I don't have oxygen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) Den echo oxygono. Den echo oxygono.
EMMANOUILIDOU: The phrase comes from an emergency call made by a passenger trapped in the wreckage. In the recording, she's heard saying, I have very little oxygen, before dying in a fire that engulfed several wagons. The recordings released last month reignited calls for justice, culminating in Friday's mass protests.
ANTONIS: I'm here today because I cannot accept the lies in the cover-up.
EMMANOUILIDOU: Twenty-seven-year-old Antonis asked us to use his first name only because he fears retaliation for striking. Like many, he believes the disaster...
ANTONIS: Was not just a mistake. It was a crime.
EMMANOUILIDOU: Many believe the government not only neglected railway safety for years but also covered up key details about the cause of the disaster. Independent experts suspect undeclared cargo on one of the trains fueled the deadly fire - information they say officials tried to suppress. Polls show that over 70% of Greeks share concerns about a broader cover-up.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in Greek).
EMMANOUILIDOU: Nick Malkoutzis is editor and co-founder of the political analysis site MacroPolis. He says the protest was the largest Greece has seen in years, perhaps decades.
NICK MALKOUTZIS: It certainly looks bigger than anything we had during Greece's long debt crisis.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting in Greek).
EMMANOUILIDOU: Videos online show crowds in front of the Parliament demanding Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to resign. Here's Malkoutzis again.
MALKOUTZIS: There is no doubt that the Greek prime minister is under a huge amount of pressure. His position is shakier than it's ever been during the 5 1/2 years that he's been in power.
EMMANOUILIDOU: Evdokia Tsagli was on the train the night of the crash. She escaped through a broken window and has since become a leading voice for justice for the victims and their families. She says the movement surging in recent weeks feels like a reckoning.
EVDOKIA TSAGLI: I do think that this is a turning point for Greece.
EMMANOUILIDOU: She says many of the failures that led to 57 deaths remain unaddressed. The Greek government did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
For NPR News, I'm Lydia Emmanouilidou in Athens.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.