The city of Agareb, in the region of Sfax, has been the scene of demonstrations since the beginning of the week against the reopening of a landfill, considered a health risk.
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The case is taken seriously by the senior Tunisian authorities. President Kaïs Saïed received representatives of civil society to try to resolve the Agareb landfill crisis in the Sfax region. New clashes took place Thursday, November 11 between police and demonstrators who demand the closure of the landfill. The protest movement gathered momentum after the death on November 9 of a 35-year-old man suffocated by tear gas fired by the police to disperse a demonstration, according to his family. A version disputed by the authorities who claim that the man succumbed to a health problem unrelated to the grenades fired by the police.
“The waste file is a problem that concerns all regions of the country, and efforts will be made to find a solution as soon as possible.”
Kaïs Saïed, President of Tunisiaduring a meeting with representatives of civil society
“Right to clean air”
The Agareb landfill, the main one in the region, was closed at the end of September under pressure from the population who claim that the site is already saturated and also protests against the dumping of chemical waste when the site is supposed to be intended only to household waste. The municipalities of the agglomeration subsequently refused to collect the waste, believing that the State had not found viable solutions to the problem posed by waste management. Authorities reopened the landfill on Monday, November 8, sparking another wave of protests. The difficulties related to the treatment of garbage are recurrent in Tunisia, a small country of 12 million inhabitants. The majority of the 2.5 million tonnes of garbage collected each year are buried in landfills, without being treated or incinerated, the rest are stored in the open, and a tiny amount is recycled, according to international organizations.
“The rate of cancer, skin disease and infertility has increased. They throw all kinds of very dangerous industrial and medical garbage in it that poison us and kill us.”
Shoukri al-Bahri, member of the collective “I am not a dump”to AFP
For those opposed to the landfill, it is about public health. “The people you see by the thousands are not asking for impossible things. They are asking for a right to life and clean air that is all”, explains a protester.