Waste crisis in Tunisia: protester dies after tear gas fire

Published on : 11/09/2021 – 16:02

A Tunisian died after inhaling tear gas fired by the police to disperse a demonstration against the reopening of a landfill in the center-east of the country, we learned Tuesday, November 9 from a hospital source and from his family .

The 35-year-old man died on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Aguereb, a town in the Sfax region which has been experiencing protests in recent weeks. At the root of this growing discontent: a problem of waste invading the streets and sidewalks for more than 40 days and threatening the health of residents.

“Abderrazek Lacheheb was transferred to Aguereb hospital for asphyxiation,” an official told AFP. “He arrived alive, but after massive tear gas firing in front of the hospital [pour disperser un groupe de manifestants], he is dead (…). It was the police who killed him, ”said his cousin Houcine Lacheheb.

An investigation opened by the prosecution

According to an AFP correspondent on the spot, the police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators who threw stones in their direction.

The prosecution opened a judicial investigation to determine the reasons for this death.

Protests resumed on Tuesday and demonstrators torched a national guard post (gendarmerie), Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mesbah told AFP.

The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) for its part indicated in a statement that the town of Aguereb “experienced a violent security intervention Monday evening to force the reopening of the Qena landfill”. “The massive use of tear gas caused the death of Abderrazek Lacheheb”, underlined this NGO which closely follows social movements in Tunisia.

The urgency of the waste problem in Sfax

The Interior Ministry denied that the man was injured by tear gas canisters, saying he was hospitalized with a health problem unrelated to the incidents. Videos shared on social networks show residents fleeing tear gas in front of Aguereb hospital as relatives of Abderrazek Lacheheb express their anger after his death.

In the aftermath of this incident, the powerful Tunisian union UGTT called for a general strike in the public and private sectors in Tunisia.

Under pressure from the population, the main landfill in the Sfax region, located in Aguereb, was closed at the end of September. Municipalities in the region subsequently refused to collect the waste, arguing that the state has not found concrete solutions to the problem posed by waste management.

During a meeting Monday of President Kaïs Saïed with Prime Minister Najla Bouden and Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine, he stressed the urgency of solving the waste problem in Sfax.

With AFP