Nicosia became one of 130 cities across Greece and the world where protest rallies were held on Sunday over the tragic accident in Tempe on 28.2.2023.
The gathering took place yesterday at 12 noon in Eleftherias Square in Nicosia, with the central slogan "I have no oxygen" and organized by the Association of Relatives of Tempo Victims.
Participants in the event held placards with the names and ages of the passengers who died on the ill-fated train that was carrying more than 350 passengers and was running the route Athens-Thessaloniki. After a violent collision, derailment and ignition of the trains, 57 people lost their lives, in the deadliest rail accident to have occurred in Greece.
Placards also read “Justice for the children who were lost.” Others held photographs of the two young Cypriots, Anastasia and Kyprianou, who lost their lives in the accident.
The three questions raised by Father Christodoulos
Father Christodoulos, Kyprianou's father, was at the scene, and initially thanked the public for sharing the pain of the parents of the children who were lost in Tempi. Father Christodoulos also asked three questions for clarification: "One is what was contained in the infamous train that was coming the other way. What did it contain that those who are trying to do so want to eliminate so badly? What were people looking for there immediately after the collision before the rescuers arrived, before the firefighters arrived? Were there people there who were looking for something... All these things should be investigated. Not just the fact that an accident occurred should be investigated. We know that the situation at all levels of our modern society is in crisis. We all know it, we understand it. But, the means of transportation, the train, is considered the safest and we naively told our children to go by trains which are safer than buses or even planes and in the end these became the way in which our children left. These fifty-seven souls. One more thing that needs to be clarified, that it wasn't just fifty-seven, they should tell us exactly how many there were. Because some people know how many there were. It wasn't fifty-seven. It was over a hundred. It's just that some people definitely need to know. I commemorate the fifty-seven that I now know by name, may their souls rest in peace and all the others whose names we don't know. They should give us answers."
A resolution was read at the event which was common to all the cities in which rallies were held.
"We are here to honor the memory of the people who were lost and to demand justice. The tragedy in Tempe was not an accident. It was a crime born of indifference, irresponsibility and corruption, a crime that must not go unpunished," the resolution states.
It also calls for justice, truth and change and states that "it is unacceptable that 30 people who survived the fatal conflict were burned alive because of an illegal chemical shipment that no one cared to control."
An immediate and independent investigation into the explosion of the illegal cargo and the fire that took lives is required. Explanations are also required from the institutions before they assume any other position that will allow them to continue the policy of cover-up. The resolution also calls for justice, without exceptions, political games and delays.
"Today, in every corner of the planet where there are Greeks, the people are saying, enough is enough, we have no more oxygen to continue to tolerate crimes without punishment. We have no more room for silence and complicity," it is reported.
It is also stated that this fight is not only for the dead but also for the living who deserve a better future and for children who should not grow up in a country where human life has less value than profit.
Similar gatherings were held, among others, in Athens, Thessaloniki, Serres, Larissa, Patras, Lamia, Ioannina, Alexandroupoli, in Crete in Chania, Heraklion and Rethymno and on islands such as Chios, Samos and Zakynthos.
Correspondingly, abroad, rallies were held in cities such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, Cambridge, Valletta, Brussels, Barcelona, Helsinki, Astoria, Manchester, Edinburgh and Berlin.
Source: KYPE
