A new subway system, long dogged by archaeological and financial issues, was finally inaugurated in the Greek city of Thessaloniki by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at the end of November 2024, more than 10 years later than planned. Amid heavy rain on the day of the opening, a video immediately began circulating on social media showing water pouring into what users falsely claimed was a train of the new metro. However, AFP found that the footage had been shot in Madrid in October 2023 and had absolutely nothing to do with Greece's second-largest city. Furthermore, the train's interior bore no resemblance to that of Thessaloniki's brand-new subway.

"First day of operation of Thessaloniki Metro!!! What we paid again!!" read this Facebook post from November 30, 2024, since shared more than 700 times. The post included a video showing water running from the roof into what appears to be a metro train carriage.

The post was shared by a political candidate from the "Hellenic Solution" party. Misleading or false claims spread by the party's leader, Kyriakos Velopoulos, have frequently been fact-checked by AFP (for example here and here).

The video, also with the claim that it had been filmed in Thessaloniki's new metro, was shared by other Facebook users (here and here).

On the morning of November 30, 2024, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis inaugurated the new metro line in a ceremony attended by a large crowd who waited for hours in the rain to visit the 13 metro stations.

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