Video of Greek train crash anniversary rally falsely shared as anti-migrant protest
- Published on March 4, 2025 at 17:38
- 6 min read
- By Théophile BLOUDANIS, AFP Greece
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"Massive riot in Greece. Thousands of patriots are calling for the resignation of the globalist treacherous government. More than 500 illegal migrants arrive in Greece by boat every day," reads an English-language post on X that has been viewed over a million times since it was posted on March 2, 2025 and shared more than 7,000 times. It is accompanied by a 15-second video showing massive crowds of demonstrators walking down a major street in central Athens, near the Greek parliament building.
The same post was also shared on Facebook (here and here) and Instagram.
However, the clip shows a large crowd walking past the Greek parliament building in Athens on February 28, 2025 on a day of action to remember those killed in a 2023 train crash. The protest was organised by relatives of the victims and backed by unions and other organisations in Greek society. Although Greece is a key point of entry into the European Union for refugees and migrants arriving by sea, the protest was not linked to immigration.
Video shows Athens rally on train crash anniversary
A reverse video search enabled us to find the same video shared on X here on the official account of Odigitis, the magazine of the Communist Youth of Greece, on February 28, 2025. The caption confirms that the video shows a demonstration over the deadly train accident that happened near Tempe in central Greece two years ago.
The same video was also used by the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, which published the clip on its website here (archived link). The newspaper clearly indicates that it was a demonstration over the Tempe train accident.
An online keyword search allowed us to find photos of the demonstrations published by Greek media, such as this one in the magazine "Grace" of To Vima newspaper. Looking closely at the details of the video shared on social networks and the images in the Grace article, it's possible to see the same group of people in the crowd wearing orange high-visibility vests, as highlighted in red in the screenshot comparison below:
In addition, it's possible to see the corner of the building from which the video was taken, as framed in yellow above.
AFP photographers also captured the Athens rally, as seen in the photograph below.
By zooming in on the AFP photo, the same group of people wearing orange can be seen. The nearby banners are also clearly legible. The yellow-framed banner seen below, written in Greek, reads: "The crime in Tempe fills us with rage! Profits or Lives! Municipal associations of Athens".
None of the banners in the photo have anything to do with immigration.
Public anger over rail crash
A total of 57 people, mostly students, died on February 28, 2023 when a train from Athens to Thessaloniki carrying more than 350 passengers collided with a freight train near the central city of Larissa. The two trains had travelled towards each other on the same track for miles without triggering any alarms. The accident was blamed on faulty equipment and human error.
Anger toward the government has grown, with opinion polls showing that most Greeks believe officials covered up vital evidence following the crash, slowing down an investigation that is still ongoing.
The victims' families called for a day of mobilisation on the second anniversary of the crash on February 28, to demand "justice" for the victims. The poster for the event was shared on X by Tempe Victims' Association president Maria Karystianou, whose daughter was killed in the crash.
The call to mobilise was supported by major unions and other Greek associations and organisations, leading to a general walkout that shut down schools, many shops, public services, trains, ferries and most flights.
Greek police said some 325,000 people took to the streets nationwide, nearly 200,000 in the capital Athens alone, AFP reported. Other European countries and cities worldwide with large ethnic Greek populations, such as New York and Melbourne, also saw demonstrations (archived here).
"Today we must send a strong message to punish those responsible for this tragedy," Nikos Lykomitros, a 20-year-old archaeology student, told AFP at the Athens demo.
Babis Solakidis, a 44-year-old metalsmith, added: "This was not a simple accident, and there will be more if safety measures are not taken."
The Athens protest was briefly marred by violence when masked youths threw petrol bombs and clashed with police. When the peaceful protest resumed, many shouted "murderers" while there were also cries of "resign", apparently directed at Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, AFP reported.
The government has rejected accusations by opposition parties that it was behind an "organised plan" to shield senior officials from responsibility.
Migrant arrivals rose in 2024
The viral posts falsely linking the Athens rally to immigration make the claim that "more than 500 illegal migrants arrive in Greece by boat every day". But this claim is not backed up by official data.
Migrant and refugee arrivals to Greece surged to a five-year high in 2024, with more than 60,000 people entering the country, according to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Of those, 54,417 arrived by sea -- or just under 150 per day. In 2023, Greece saw 41,561 migrants and refugees arrive by sea.
Recent data from the Greek migration ministry shows that 2,695 refugees and migrants arrived by land and sea in January 2025, down 18 percent on the same month a year earlier.
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