Tunisians rally as court mulls factory suspension over pollution
Hundreds of people in Tunisia's city of Gabes protested on Thursday in front of a court as it examined whether to suspend a nearby factory accused of widespread pollution.
Locals have rallied in the southern coastal city in recent weeks calling for the closure of a phosphate processing plant they say is behind a rise in gas poisonings and other pollution-related health problems.
"We're angry with what's happening in Gabes," said protester Ridha Moussa.
"We're tired of cancers, bone fragility and shortness of breath," he added. "We're losing our agriculture and our sea resources."
The hearing into the complaint filed last month by the local bar association seeking to halt the factory's operations was adjourned to next Thursday, lawyers said.
"Today we presented evidence that shows this is a crime committed against the city," said Mounir Adouni, head of the local bar association. "We don't need any further evidence to support our position."
Adouni said the matter was urgent: "The danger is imminent to our children's lives, and the hospitals here are unable to provide treatment."
The factory emits sulfur gases, nitrogen and fluorine, according to an audit carried out in July for the African Development Bank, which reported "major non-compliance" in terms of air and marine pollution.
Mohamed Amairi, another protester, said he hoped "the court will do us justice by ending this environmental crime that has been ongoing for over 50 years".
Lawyers of the committee that filed the complaint said a separate complaint seeking to dismantle the polluting units altogether will be heard in December.
The factory processes phosphate to make fertilizers. Critics say it has been releasing more toxic gases and radioactive waste into the sea recently.
Despite a 2017 government promise to gradually shut it down, authorities earlier this year said they were ramping up production at the plant.
President Kais Saied has long vowed to revive Tunisia's phosphate sector, hindered by years of unrest and underinvestment, calling it a "pillar of the national economy".
Taking advantage of rising world fertilizer prices, Tunisia now wants the plant's output to increase more than fourfold by 2030.
Source: Agence France Presse
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/316478 |