Group of 100 thrown off train after demanding free travel to…freedom festival

Some 100 people, mostly young adults, travelling to a northern Greece festival entitled “Eleftheria” (freedom, in Greek) apparently believed that the concept also extended to free travel by rail…

An ensuing early-morning melee at the central Athens train station between members of the group, on one side, and train conductors allied with some (paying) passengers, on the other side, was finally resolved with the arrival of … riot police.

The train headed for Veria, in northern Imathia prefecture, with the merry band of “free riders”
on board, did not depart, however, until the group was removed.

Sixteen people were detained, with three arrests reported — an unfitting end to a journey towards a Freedom Festival.