A sea of protesters stretches from the Ancient Agora Square to Aristotelous Square in the center of Thessaloniki on February 28, 2025. [Intime News]
They came without leaders, without chants, without party banners – only their footsteps echoing through the streets of Athens. Hundreds of thousands of Greeks flooded the capital on Friday in a silent but powerful demonstration marking the second anniversary of the Tempe train disaster, an unprecedented movement that sent shockwaves through the country’s political establishment.
From dawn, people arrived from all corners of the city, turning thoroughfares typically clogged with traffic into rivers of humanity. The crowd, an organic mix of first-time demonstrators and seasoned protesters, swelled through Athens’ historic districts, converging on Syntagma Square in what is being called one of the largest demonstrations in modern Greek history.
A single phrase ignited the mobilization: “I have no oxygen.” The haunting words of a victim trapped in the wreckage, captured in an audio recording, resurfaced online weeks before the protest, turning quiet frustration into a mass movement.
“It felt like something we couldn’t ignore,” said Maria Theodorou, a 47-year-old mother who attended with her teenage daughter. “We’ve never been to a protest before, but this wasn’t about politics, it was about justice.”
Unlike past protests, there were no organized groups steering the march. The atmosphere was reverent. A light drizzle in the morning added to the procession’s funereal tone. “It felt like a Good Friday litany,” observed one participant. Some marchers carried candles, others held signs with the words “Never again.”
Yet, just after midday, tensions flared outside Parliament, when small groups of masked individuals clashed with police, throwing Molotov cocktails and forcing the majority of protesters to retreat.
The government had set up a major security operation, anticipating chaos reminiscent of the 2011 anti-austerity protests, but this demonstration was different.
“What happened today wasn’t about political factions,” said Nikos Papadopoulos, a longtime observer of Greek protests. “It was an unfiltered expression of grief and a demand for accountability.”
The sheer size and tone of the demonstration stunned political analysts and sent ripples through the government and opposition alike. Many are now questioning whether this spontaneous protest signals a deeper shift – one that goes beyond Tempe and taps into growing disillusionment with the political system itself.
