Global News Podcast - Huge protests in Greece over train crash justice

Episode Date: February 28, 2025

Greeks hold mass protests demanding justice after train crash two years ago which killed 57 people. Also: Mexico's view on US tariffs, and the desperate efforts to flee the fighting in the DR Congo.

This is the Global News podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charles Haviland and at 14 Hours GMT on Friday the 28th of February these are our main stories. Protesters have clashed with police in Athens as huge demonstrations take place across Greece, marking two years since the country's worst ever train crash. President Zelensky prepares to meet President Trump at the White House with a minerals deal on the table. Europol says it's made dozens of arrests in a large scale operation against AI generated child sexual abuse material. Also in this podcast, a Japanese documentary about a rape case is aiming for the Oscars despite not being shown in Japan.

I want to break the idea of perfect victim because that was what stopping me, people telling me you're not lying enough talking to the policeman. We start in Greece. Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting in towns and cities across the country to mark two years since a rail disaster that killed 57 people. In Athens, hooded protesters threw petrol bombs at police. There were clashes outside parliament as officers tried to disperse the crowds with tear gas. The crowds say they want justice for the 57 people who were killed when a passenger service collided with a freight train near the Tempe Gorge in 2023.

A report published on Thursday found the crash was caused by human error, poor maintenance and inadequate staffing, and protesters like these two are venting their anger. We want to send the message to the government and the employers that we will not tolerate anymore going to work and not knowing if we are going to get back home alive. I came here for justice in order to finally find out why so many young people were lost, to finally find out why there are accidents that put lives at risk every day. That time it was those children, but it could have been my own kid. I heard more from our reporter in Athens, Helena Smith.

We've seen extraordinary scenes here in Athens today. First of all, an incredible demonstration in the square that is the site of the Greek Parliament. Tens of thousands of people gathered there. In a first, they weren't chanting themselves horse. They were silent, most bending their heads in honor of the dead. This is the anniversary, the second anniversary of the country's worst ever rail disaster that saw 57 mostly young students die in an accident that many in Greece believe was entirely preventable and is down to systemic failures, the failure of the state to provide even basic services like a modern railway system. You mentioned that it's been silent and mournful, but there's also been violence.

That's absolutely right. Barely had the relatives of the victims finished addressing the crowds when clashes erupted across the square in what appears to have been a very well coordinated plan to disrupt an otherwise peaceful protest with black clad hooded youths emerging throwing rocks at riot police, Molotov cocktails, et cetera. And within minutes, thousands of people found themselves fleeing the square, some even taking refuge in the Greek parliament as the air became filled with this acrid tear gas fired by riot police. And then of course the crowds, but we're talking about tens of thousands of people, disperse.

We're at the tail end of that happening, but much of central Athens has been turned into a war zone, pitched battle between riot police and these rock lobbying youths. There have been extraordinary scenes even around the Greek Parliament with youths throwing Molotov cocktails, setting off fires in the courtyard of the Greek Parliament. The report on Thursday, which suggested there are still a lot of failures, haven't been rectified. Have the authorities given any indication that they are going to act on this and perhaps assuage some of the protesters' concerns? Well, the government has said that it will act on this, that its plan is to create a modern railway

system, but it's been very slow. What has stoked so much of this public outrage here in Greece is this sense of a government cover-up, and that in the days after, the state moved very, very quickly to clean up the scene of the tragedy, removing what could have been very vital evidence, including, if you can believe it, human remains from the site of the crash by gravelling and cementing it over. None of that has helped assuage this public sense that somehow they're not being told the truth. Helena Smith in Greece. To the United States now.

And as we record this podcast, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is preparing to meet Donald Trump at the White House for a crucial encounter. They'll be discussing how to end the war that began with Russia's invasion. And at Mr Trump's insistence, they're set to sign a deal that would open up Ukraine's vast mineral wealth to the US, but with no American security guarantees for Ukraine in place. Lisa Yasko, an MP from the Ukrainian president's servant of the People's Party, is nevertheless optimistic. It looks like the deal looks not bad and quite good for Ukraine, not only for the economic interest in general, but also for the future.

Because for us, it is very important that hopefully one day the war is over, that there will be different projects, different reconstruction projects that will help to restore our land, our society. We do have a lot of natural resources. If there are different economic assets that will be run and produced by other countries, that means that we'll hopefully will have more security guarantees. But is her optimism misplaced? Our Ukrainecast co-presenter Vitaly Shevchenko told me more. At the moment, we don't really know. Whatever versions of that deal have been leaked to the press, they don't really say anything

about what Ukraine is getting in exchange for signing off a huge chunk of its mineral wealth. And also, let's not forget that this isn't really a straightforward business transaction or an investment agreement because we are talking about a country that is fighting for its survival, literally, to when people talk about reconstruction and anything that might happen in the future. The big question is what happens before we get to that point? And this is what Vladimir Zelensky really, really wants, security guarantees that will ensure that Ukraine quite simply survives until the point when it can talk about investment and reconstruction and rebuilding the country once this war is over. Ukraine's survival is very much on everyone's mind at the moment.

Donald Trump seems at least to have changed his mind for the moment over Volodymyr Zelensky. Do you think this will help Ukraine? It's a good sign as far as Ukraine is concerned, going from calling Zelensky dictator to saying, I can't believe I said that and he is Ukraine's best president. That's what Donald Trump said yesterday. But there's been so much contradiction and so many things that are at odds with the facts as we know them in what Donald Trump has said that many people are actually saying, well, don't really listen to what he's saying, keep an eye on what he's doing. And yesterday, he extended some of America's sanctions imposed on Russia for another year. So today is the crucial day.

I could say that this meeting between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy is crucial for Ukraine's future and potentially Ukraine's survival. What we don't have are the actual details of this agreement. And that's the key bit. And Volodymyr Zelensky says that, well, there's hope of still working on them and working more specific security guarantees in that deal before it gets signed. Vitaly Shevchenko. Across Europe at least 25 people have been arrested after police targeted the distribution

of artificial intelligence generated images of child sexual exploitation. Europol, the EU's law enforcement agency, put out a statement on Friday saying they'd been supported by authorities in 19 countries. I heard more from Anna Holligan, our correspondent based in The Hague, where Europol is headquartered. This is a whole new realm in AI and cybercrime. This is one of the first cases involving AI-generated child sexual abuse materials. So we've just had details from Europol. This is an operation that has been going on over the last few days. But in fact, the main suspect, who is Danish national, he was arrested last November.

He's accused of hosting an online platform where he distributed, he created, produced these AI generated images, then sold them through social media. So users from all over the world were able to make a symbolic payment online, get a password and then access this platform to watch children essentially being abused. And as this technology is becoming more and more sophisticated, it's increasingly difficult for the authorities to differentiate between those AI generated images and real world victims. So that's one of the front lines now in terms of Europol's operations. There's been one main suspect in this case, is that right?

Exactly, yes. So that was the Danish national but in total they've identified 273 suspects. This is an operation which is codenamed Cumberland. And when I looked down the list published by Europol at the number of authorities involved, it just gives you an idea of how widespread this problem is. So from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, right across Europe and the UK, arrests have been made right across Europe and the UK. Arrests have been made. The authorities have been involved.

And listening to this, you might think, well, these are AI-generated images. What's the actual real-world harm? In fact, it's harmful on multiple levels. So the director of Europol has talked about this. Often these AI-generated images are derived from real world abuse, even in cases where the content is fully artificial and there's no actual real life victim depicted.

It's a huge challenge too because the more and more of this material that's around, the harder it is for the authorities to find the perpetrators and the victims. Anna Hologun, a film that charts a rape case filed by its director in 2015 is in the running for best documentary feature film at the Oscars on Sunday. That is despite it not having been shown in Japan, the home country of the director Shiori Ito. Black Box Diaries has however been screened in more than 50 other nations. Shyma Khalil met Miss Ito in Paris as she was promoting her movie. I have chance to talk about what happened to me.

I'm scared, but all I want to do is talk about the truth. When Shiori Ito decided to speak about her rape allegations in 2017, she knew she was standing in the face of a society that preferred victims to be silent. At the time, Japan's rape laws hadn't changed for more than a century. The onus was on the victim to prove that either violence or intimidation was involved in the sex act, or that they were incapable of resistance. In the opening scene of her documentary Black Box Diaries, Shiori is speaking to the camera

a few days before she holds a press conference. Something, she tells me, her family was against. For instance, my father. He's not, you know, especially strict. He's quite liberal. But then the first reaction when I told him I'm planning to go public, he said, your life is going to be in danger and over in many ways my career but especially as a woman. Black Box Diaries which is Shiori's directorial debut is based on her memoir. It follows the young reporter's quest for justice in a rape criminal case she filed in 2015 against well-known journalist Noriyuki Yamaguchi who also had a close relationship with the late

former prime minister Shinzo Abe as his biographer. Shiori decides to go public after the police and the prosecutors dismiss her allegations for lack of evidence. In 2019, she won a civil case against Yamaguchi, who's always denied the allegations. In doing so, Shiori became the symbol of the MeToo movement in Japan. I want to break the idea of perfect victim, because that was what was stopping me. People telling me, you're not fine enough talking to the policeman,

you're not wearing proper clothes when I'm doing press conference. There are moments I'm not proud of, but I want to put all of it in. The film has been screened in dozens of countries and is now in the running for Best Documentary Feature Film at this year's Academy Awards. Shiori is the first Japanese director to be nominated in this category. It took some moment to understand we really got in.

It was almost 11 p.m. in Japan time. Everyone was at my home in Tokyo, my best friend who's been always supporting me, all the film crews. We just cried with joy. Despite the international acclaim, the film has not yet been shown in Japan and has made the news under a cloud of controversy. Lawyers who led the team representing Shiori's successful civil lawsuit in 2019 have now criticized the documentary publicly, taking issue with the film's unauthorized use of CCTV footage that they say was only supposed to be used in court proceedings. The footage shows an intoxicated Shiori being dragged from a taxi and into a hotel lobby

by the alleged perpetrator. The lawyers also said that her using secret video and audio recordings without consent has compromised sources who should have been protected. We are standing in different point of view. For me, public good. For them, do not break any rules. This TV footage is the only evidence visually when we have to think about what we have to tell through this story. Shiori Ito ending that report by Shima Khalil. Coming up. In the distance,

in the middle of the river, I can see a man wearing a cap being pushed by the current. He's clinging on to a huge black bag which he pushes in front of him. The desperate efforts to flee the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Canada's most populous province, Ontario, has re-elected its progressive Conservative Party for the third time. The leader Doug Ford campaigned on a promise to fight Donald Trump's pledge to impose

25% tariffs on Canadian goods. In his celebratory speech, Mr Ford said the US president underestimated Canada's spirit. Donald Trump thinks he can break us. He thinks he can divide and conquer, pit region against region. Donald Trump doesn't know what we know. He is underestimating us. He is underestimating the resilience of the Canadian people, the Canadian spirit. Make no mistake, Canada won't start a fight with the US, but you better believe we're ready to win one.

President Trump says the delayed 25% markups on goods coming in from Canada and Mexico will now come into effect on the 4th of March. So let's get the view from Mexico. My colleague Roger Herring has been speaking to Mexico's former Deputy Finance Minister Vanessa Rubio. Last time around it was exactly the same threat in relation to the implementation of the tariffs and then a series of negotiations and a series of conversations happened which culminated with the conversation between both presidents and then the implementation of the tariffs was delayed. Today there is a huge delegation of Mexican officials

in Washington, DC that are having conversations regarding how to anchor, which I think is the most important thing, Roger, how to anchor conversations with the United States in relation to specific metrics. You cannot have a conversation and you cannot have a negotiation in the abstract. You need to know exactly what numbers, what data, what metrics would be measured and would

be taken into account in order for those tariffs not to be implemented. But Vanessa, the metric that Donald Trump certainly has been pushing out is that Mexico hasn't enough to restrict the flow of the drug fentanyl into the US from Mexico, he says there's not enough progress. I mean, are the Mexicans making progress? That's exactly what I was referring to, Roger. What is not enough? You need to put that on the table. What would be enough in relation to the US government today to say that Mexico is advancing in addressing the fentanyl problem and addressing organized crime and addressing migration. These are the very specific negotiations that need to

take place because let's remember that we don't have currently a trade negotiation with the United States. It's basically one that is concentrated on security and on migration. So it is those metrics that I think is what the ministers today are negotiating in order for those tariffs not to be implemented. But as you know, Donald Trump will say things, not necessarily things that are clear, perhaps in terms of what has to happen. It's almost more in his interest to keep you guys on edge all the time and constantly having to do his bidding. But at the same time, the fact that you need to provide for a certainty environment in

Mexico is also very important and is very important for the United States as well. Mexico is the first trading partner of the United States, the first source of its imports. It's the 15th largest economy in the world and the majority of its states have Mexico as main trading partner. So I think it is also important for the US in the medium term, hopefully sooner than later, that enabling environment for investment and for normal trade relations takes place. Is it really though a negotiation? Because it feels at the moment as if Donald Trump, the Americans demand something and President Scheinbaum basically has to do it.

It's a one way trade in effect. Having been there in those negotiations, I can tell you that it is a negotiation. And one thing is the rhetoric and one thing is what both presidents say to their political base and to their electoral base, which of course is important in part of real politics. But the other thing is what happens really in the negotiating table. And I am sure that there are negotiations going on. Mexico's former deputy finance minister, Vanessa Rubio. South Africa's health minister has

described the decision by the US government to end its funding for HIV programs as a wake-up call. Dr Aaron Mocholeidi told the BBC he'd instructed state-funded clinics to ensure that no patient is left without life-saving drugs. Eight million people in South Africa live with HIV. In 2003, President George W Bush started financing a huge worldwide effort to combat the illness. But Donald Trump's administration has abruptly stopped tens of billions of dollars worth of aid contracts. Health experts say the funding, known as PEPFAR, was helping with research for a cure for HIV. Dr. Kate Rees, a public health expert in Johannesburg, has been speaking to James

Kopnall about these cuts. We have heard that PEPFAR supplies about 17% of South Africa's HIV funding. In South Africa, we are relatively lucky. However, that 17% actually makes a huge impact in terms of increasing access to services for the most vulnerable people. The way that this has been handled, where we have been planning this transition of these programs to the Department of Health to become more sustainable over five years, 10 years, and that has now been totally taken away from us and instead we've been pushed off this cliff. So the repercussions are going to be great for the health services. We've had the head of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation saying that a halt in US funds to

South Africa's HIV age programs could lead to more than 500,000 deaths over 10 years. Does that seem to you a feasible figure? Yes, we definitely will see deaths in the coming years. And if you think about the really vulnerable people who are going to struggle to stay on their treatments, but also vulnerable pregnant women who are then not going to be virally suppressed at the time of their delivery and their babies are going to be at risk

of contracting HIV, children who are not going to get the psychosocial support that they absolutely need to help them to live lifelong on therapy. So it's as much as we are so lucky in South Africa that the ARVs are going to be there. They're going to be sitting there. However, to help people and especially people living in really difficult situations to be able to stay on lifelong therapy. It requires a lot. It requires a lot of management, a lot of differentiation

of services and a lot of other quality improvement initiatives that are in the long run going to lead to deaths. And that's not even looking at the research and development that's been halted and that is going to push us all backwards in terms of our response. Dr. Kate Reese, a South African public health expert. Now to the worsening humanitarian situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo where the government and the UN have made an appeal for two and a half billion dollars in aid. The funding would go towards helping the 20 million people affected by conflict and other challenges across the country. Many have chosen to find refuge in neighbouring

Burundi but with the recent rapid advance of the M23 rebels there are fears that even there they are not safe. Nomsa Maseko reports from the Burundi DRC border. A perilous journey across the river receives me from the DRC to Burundi. Possessions including jerry cans are used as a life raft. The journey is frightening for both adults and children. In the distance in the middle of the river I can see a man wearing a cap being pushed by the current. He's clinging on to a huge black bag which he pushes in front of him. As he emerges from the river, he wipes his face and takes a deep breath. He then goes straight to Burundian forces nearby who want to make sure he's not carrying any weapons.

His name is Jordan Bita. I managed to flee DRC safely because I was crossing through the forest and moving along the bushes instead of the main road. This is because M23 fighters are everywhere and they are forcing us to join them. The BBC has not been able to independently verify this claim. In the last two weeks, at least 20 people, including children, have been swept away as they attempt to swim up to 300 metres across a river which at some point is 10 metres deep. It is thought many of the drownings have been unreported.

Jordan is among the lucky ones who made it. They say the choice is stark. Either stay and risk forced conscription into the M23 or swim and risk the waters of the Rosizi. Amani Sebakungu agrees with Jordan. In the river you just have to take heart and say if I die or survive so be it. God willing I cross safely. If I get into trouble I call out to others for help.

That's how we help each other. We are interrupted by the Burundian troops who order us to vacate the area. They've spotted M23 rebels marching towards the river border. Safety in Burundi means living in makeshift camps like this one here in Rugombo. As many as 25 people share a tent and food is rationed to only one meal a day. 87 years old and blind, the lines on Ma'gega Mwaru'u's face tell the story of the hardship she's endured since the 1960s due to instability in the DRC. I have fled to Burundi so many times since I was young before I turned blind.

There have been times where I almost drowned. With the recent rapid advance of the M23 rebellion, Granny Magega must be wondering if she'll ever go back to her home country or whether she's even safe in this one. Nomsa Maseko reporting. Finally to Morocco, last year six million sheep and goats were slaughtered for the Eid al-Adha festival. But this year King Mohammed VI has made a rare break with tradition and urged families

to forgo buying sheep for sacrifice. Herds are dwindling at an alarming rate due to years of drought and imports have risen dramatically. Id Al-Adha, which falls this year in early June, commemorates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son on God's command. James Cotnall has been speaking to the Moroccan journalist Aida Al-Ami. It's the most important holiday of the year, arguably. Usually families go to the mosque in the morning and then the ritual of sacrifice happens after the prayer.

Then families gather, people wear their nicest clothes, they visit relatives that they haven't seen in a long time or that they've seen recently. But it's a day of celebration and bonding with community and family and being together. And this year, it seems, the King is asking people not to buy sheep for sacrifice during the festival. Why? Well, at least to show restraint. Reasons are clear. There are huge economic issues. There's also drought. There's a huge decrease in the livestock in Morocco. Just two weeks ago, the Agriculture Minister spoke of maybe importing livestock from Australia.

So there are many reasons. It's too expensive. It's just not sustainable. And I think it's been a relief for many Moroccans to hear this message. I mean, the king in his letter said that as the religious leader he would perform the sacrifice in the name of the nation. And that in a way gives people an excuse to not feel social pressure to do it anyway. People go into death, they loan money to buy the sheep for the holidays. So I think there's definitely a sense of relief. When you look at the factors going into the livestock shortages, is climate change one of the biggest? Morocco has suffered for several years from severe drought and also misguided agricultural policies. And what happened is that the country has prioritized

exports over ensuring food security for Moroccans and all of these things combined have led to the decrease of livestock but I mean the drought has been a huge concern for sure. Aida Alami. And that's all from us for now but there will be a new edition of the Global News podcast later. If you want to comment on this podcast or the topics covered in it, you can send us an email.

The address is globalpodcast at bbc.co.uk. You can also find us on X at BBC World Service. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. This edition was mixed by Daniel Fox and the producer was Tracy Gordon The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Charles Haviland until next time. Goodbye