US EditionTunisian City on General Strike over Factory Pollution
Thousands of workers and residents demand plant closure amid over 200 hospitalizations from toxic emissions linked to cancer and respiratory illnesses, officials say.
- On Tuesday, workers in Gabes launched a general strike, with Saoussen Nouisser, UGTT local representative, saying `Everything is closed in Gabes`.
- In 2017 the Tunisian government promised to phase out the plant, but earlier this year said it would ramp up production at the state-run phosphate processing plant inaugurated in 1972, which researchers say emits radioactive gases and waste.
- Authorities and NGOs reported over 200 hospitalisations for respiratory distress and gas poisoning in recent weeks, while videos last week showed children with breathing problems.
- Dozens were arrested over the weekend as Police used tear gas during night clashes, with National Guard spokesman Houcem Eddine Jebabli reporting `over 800 Molotov cocktails` targeting security forces.
- Authorities announced urgent measures and called on Chinese companies to help manage the plant's waste, while Equipment Minister Salah Zouari pledged to `control gas emissions` and `prevent the discharge of phosphogypsum into the sea`.
40 Articles
40 Articles
General strike, protests paralyse Tunisia's Gabes over pollution crisis
TUNIS - A general strike and tens of thousands of protesters brought the southern Tunisian city of Gabes to a standstill on Tuesday to back demands for the closure of a state chemical plant blamed for a pollution crisis. Read more at straitstimes.com.
A general regional strike was decreed by the UGTT trade union centre and the associations of the city of southern Tunisia for Tuesday, 21 October, following almost a week of demonstrations calling for the dismantling of the Tunisian Chemical Group, held responsible for more than a hundred cases of gas poisoning escaping from its facilities.
Portal - The Tunisian General Union has called on residents of Gabes governorate and various economic, commercial and administrative sectors to go on a general strike today in protest against the continued activity and work of the chemical complex, which has caused air pollution and the spread of diseases due to toxic gases released by it for decades...
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