ATHENS — Protesters in Athens launched gasoline bombs and fireworks in clashes with police on Wednesday night, following a fresh wave of nationwide demonstrations calling for politicians to be held accountable for a 2023 railway disaster that killed 57 people.

The violence outside Greece’s parliament erupted hours after opposition parties challenged Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis' centre-right government with a no-confidence motion.

Demonstrators set fire to bins in Syntagma Square, and police in riot gear responded with tear gas and baton charges. There were no immediate reports of injuries or arrests.

Days earlier, a general strike and much larger protests, some of them violent, marked the second anniversary of the nation's deadliest train crash.

Fifty-seven people — mainly students — died on 28 February 2023 when a passenger train collided with a freight train near the Tempe gorge in central Greece. The crash also left dozens injured and exposed deficiencies in the country's transport infrastructure.

Victims' relatives called for the mass protests in recent weeks, saying politicians should be held accountable for failures that led to the collision. So far, only rail officials have been charged with any crimes, and no trial has been held yet.

The censure motion — led by the main opposition Socialist party and backed by three smaller left-wing parties — is unlikely to threaten Mitsotakis' government, which holds 156 seats in the 300-member parliament. A vote is expected late on Friday.

Presenting the motion on Wednesday, Socialist party leader Nikos Androulakis accused the government of shielding officials from accountability for the tragedy.

"Why do you remain so unrepentant, continuing down this road of insults and arrogance?" Androulakis asked lawmakers.

Mitsotakis described the censure motion as a political stunt and insisted it poses no threat to his second term, which is due to end in 2027.

"Parties from different vantage points have come together in a common anti-government front," Mitsotakis told parliament. "It’s not the truth that you are interested in. But you have collapsed in opinion polls and are looking for a reason to exist."

A long-awaited report on the investigation into the crash — which was released last week — blamed human error, outdated infrastructure and major systemic failures. A separate judicial investigation is still ongoing. — Euronews