Tunisia: Army fires tear gas to disperse anti-pollution protests in Gabes

The Tunisian army has been deployed to the southern coastal city of Gabes after violent protests erupted over the weekend, as toxic gas from a nearby chemical plant left dozens of children hospitalised.

On Sunday, witnesses said security forces fired tear gas to disperse crowds gathered near the Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT) phosphate complex headquarters, as protesters blocked roads and set tyres ablaze. 

The unrest first began peacefully, with chants of "government of shame, cancer is in every house", calling for the closure of the plant, widely seen as the source of the crisis.

However, after hundreds of protesters forced their way into the military-restricted GCT complex late on Friday, the protests quickly escalated. 

On Saturday, about 200 people briefly occupied the site before security forces pushed them back using tear gas and force. 

Soldiers have since been stationed around key facilities amid fears of further clashes.

The protests have reignited anger over one of Tunisia's longest-running environmental crises: the decades-old pollution from the GCT complex, which residents say has poisoned their air, water, and soil since the 1970s.

One protester, Myriam Bribi, described the choking fumes that blanketed her neighbourhood after the weekend's protests. 

"In addition to the plant's gas, we got an extra dose of tear gas. My skin still burns. The gas is everywhere — in the neighbourhoods, on rooftops, even inside houses."

The latest wave of protests began after some thirty students from Chott Essalem secondary school were rushed to the hospital on Friday with severe respiratory distress. 

Videos shared online showed panicked parents and medics helping teenagers struggling to breathe.

Since early September, Gabes University Hospital has noted a spike in cases of gas poisoning, more than 180 in under a month, local reports say. 

Many blame the state-run GCT, operating near Gabes's port since 1972.

"My son has asthma and has been hospitalised several times," said Abdelhakim, a taxi driver in the city. He believes that it's because of the TGC complex's pollution. 

"We are tired of empty promises. We just want to breathe clean air like everyone else," added the taxi driver who began offering free rides to protesters, as his way of supporting the movement.

The phosphate industry has long been a pillar of Tunisia's post-independence economy, but in Gabes, the cost has been staggering.

Environmental campaigners say the plant dumps about 15,000 tonnes of phosphogypsum waste daily into the sea, turning the Gulf of Gabes into one of the most polluted areas in the Mediterranean. 

Locals report elevated rates of cancer, infertility, and respiratory illnesses, alongside the collapse of marine ecosystems and the loss of traditional livelihoods such as fishing and agriculture.

The New Arab was unable to reach an official from the TGC for comment on the accusations of polluting the area and causing repeated cases of suffocation.

On Saturday, President Kais Saied met with the ministers of industry and environment, calling for "urgent repairs" at the complex. 

The presidency said inspectors had found "serious maintenance and safety failures" and promised a new plan "inspired by proposals from Gabes youth more than a decade ago".

However, residents and environmental groups argue that such pledges have been made repeatedly since 2017, with little to show for them. 

"The army now stands before people forced to die because of the toxicity in their water, plants, and air," said environmental activist Dali Rtimi, who was arrested earlier this year for protesting. 

"President Kais Saied has ordered the army to protect an industrial zone that is destroying our environment."

Meanwhile, the activist group Stop Pollution criticised the Ministry of Industry for holding meetings with international donors to discuss phosphate transport projects while residents were still suffering from gas-related injuries. 

It called for the industry minister's dismissal and an investigation into GCT's operations, while opposition parties have also voiced support for the Gabes protests. 

The liberal Republican Party said the Gabes complex had transformed from a symbol of national development into "a source of danger and destruction", while the centrist Tayar party accused the government of "delay and denial".

Addressing the protests, Saied vowed that "those who failed in their duties will be held accountable" and promised to make Gabes a "green, pollution-free" city, but few believe him. 

The government's 2017 pledge to relocate the most hazardous facilities was never implemented. A deadly explosion at an asphalt plant in 2021 - which killed six workers - deepened public mistrust, especially after it was revealed that ammonium nitrate, the same chemical behind the Beirut port blast, had been stored near homes.

Protests are expected to resume on 15 October, as residents demand the clean air they have been denied for half a century.