Demonstrations are planned throughout the island on Friday to mark the two years since the Greek train tragedy in Tempi, near Larissa, in which 57 people died.
Two Cypriot students, 24-year-old Anastasia Adamidou and 23-year-old Kyprianos Papaioannou were among the victims of the crash. They had been returning to university after a break.
Demonstrations calling for justice under the slogan ‘I have no Oxygen – Justice to the End’ will be held in all cities in the afternoon with police warning that traffic may be affected.
The father of Kyprianos is expected to address crowds at the Nicosia event while the family of Anastasia have said they will attend the one in Paphos.
In Nicosia, the rally will take place in Eleftheria Square at 5pm, with simultaneous events planned in Paphos at the Municipality Square, and in Larnaca at Europe Square. In Limassol the event is planned for 6pm at Molos.
The events are led by civil organisations, parties, and student unions.
In Greece a nationwide strike has been declared and a massive turnout is expected, reflecting the widespread despair felt over the handling of the crash.
Athens will come to a standstill with public transport, planes, schools and courts, shops and entertainment venues shutting down. The size of the national strike is reportedly unprecedented in the country of 10 million.
The tragedy struck on February 28, 2023, when shortly after 11pm a passenger service train carrying 300 people collided with a freight train after they ended up on the same track, causing the front carriages to burst into flames.
Fifty-seven people died, mostly under the age of 30, and dozens more were injured.
The event’s rallying cry was adopted when audio recordings from inside the train were leaked. Evidence indicated that some victims had survived the impact and may have died from asphyxiation or burns after a fireball ripped through the carriages.
Included in the audio a young woman could be heard saying “I have no oxygen” in her last words to emergency services.
Demonstrations will also be held in over 350 cities worldwide in places as far as Iceland, Mexico City and South Korea.
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