{"id":98771,"date":"2025-10-16T04:27:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:27:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98771"},"modified":"2025-10-16T04:27:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-16T04:27:00","slug":"thousands-protest-in-tunisias-gabes-over-pollution-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=98771","title":{"rendered":"Thousands protest in Tunisia\u2019s Gabes over pollution crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thousands took to the streets of the Tunisian coastal city of Gabes in a huge march on Wednesday, in an escalation of protests that began last week over pollution from the state Chemical Group\u2019s (CGT) phosphate complex.<\/p>\n

The large-scale protests heighten pressure on President Kais Saied\u2019s government, which fears the unrest may spread to other regions of the country.<\/p>\n

The government, already pressured by a deep financial crisis, needs to balance public health demands with the production of phosphate, Tunisia\u2019s most valuable natural resource.<\/p>\n

The protesters chanted slogans such as \u201cwe want to live\u201d and \u201cGabes is crying out for help\u201d.<\/p>\n

The protesters marched towards Chatt Essalam, a coastal suburb to the north of the city, where the chemical group is located. There, witnesses said that police fired tear gas to disperse them as they approached the headquarters.<\/p>\n

In the capital, Tunis, crowds also gathered in support of Gabes, highlighting growing national concern over the environmental crisis and the call for urgent government action.<\/p>\n

Residents of Gabes say they are suffering from increased respiratory illnesses, osteoporosis and an increased incidence of cancer due to the toxic gases emitted by the factory\u2019s units.<\/p>\n

The latest wave of protests was triggered earlier this month after dozens of schoolchildren suffered breathing difficulties caused by toxic fumes from a plant that converts phosphates into phosphoric acid and fertilizers.<\/p>\n

CGT did not reply to Reuters\u2019 attempts to seek comment on the situation in Gabes.<\/p>\n

Khaireddine Diba, one of the protesters, said: \u201cToday, our voice will be loud and resounding until this crime stops immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saied said this month that Gabes was suffering an \u201cenvironmental assassination\u201d due to what he called criminal policy choices by a previous government.<\/p>\n

He called on ministries to maintain the units to stop leaks as a first step.<\/p>\n

However, the protesters reject temporary solutions and demand the permanent closure and relocation of the units.<\/p>\n

Tons of industrial waste are discharged into the sea at Chatt Essalam daily.<\/p>\n

Environmental groups warn that marine life has been severely affected, with local fishermen reporting a dramatic decline in fish stocks over the past decade, hitting a vital source of income for many in the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ThousandsThousands took to the streets of the Tunisian coastal city of Gabes in a huge march on Wednesday, in an escalation of protests that began last week over pollution from the state Chemical Group\u2019s (CGT) phosphate complex.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1972,10577,10,10578,9,8924],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-africa","category-gabes","category-politics","category-pollution","category-popular","category-tunisia"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98771"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98771\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}