Dozens of people have been arrested in this southern Tunisian city after protests calling for the closure of a highly polluting chemical plant owned by the Tunisian Chemical Group (GCT). This aging industrial complex uses sulfuric acid and ammonia to make phosphate-based fertilizers.

Videos of students being rescued after falling ill prompted thousands of Gabes residents to take to the streets on Wednesday to demand the factory's closure, a protest that activists said was unprecedented in several years.

"The arrests targeted people protesting at night," said Mehdi Talmoudi, a lawyer. "While daytime protests have been largely peaceful, those taking place at night have sometimes resulted in clashes with security forces and tire burning." He could not quantify the number of arrests.

"A wave of arrests"

According to Khayreddine Debaya, coordinator of the local Stop Pollution collective, "more than 100 people were taken into custody" on Saturday morning. "The police arrested more than 70 people last night alone, and others at dawn," he added, noting that some were arrested at home. Other Tunisian activists denounced on social media "a wave of arrests."

Residents of Gabes believe that the plant has recently produced more toxic gases and released radioactive waste into the sea. In one month, nearly 200 residents of neighborhoods near the complex have received treatment for "poisoning," according to authorities.

Kaïs Saïed promises “urgent solutions”

In 2017, Tunisian authorities promised to dismantle the complex, which employs 4,000 people in an area hit by unemployment, and replace it with a facility that meets international standards. But phosphate mining – the country's main natural resource – is "a fundamental pillar" of the economy, according to President Kaïs Saïed . Authorities want to increase fertilizer production fivefold by 2030 to take advantage of rising global prices.

The Tunisian presidency announced Saturday morning that the president had summoned two parliamentary officials to discuss "the environmental situation" in Gabes. Kais Saied said in a statement that "work is underway to find urgent solutions to the pollution."

The presidency nevertheless considers it "necessary for residents and security forces to unite to confront those who seek to exploit the catastrophic environmental situation for their own benefit," while criticizing the "conspirators" who have been "watered with foreign money to speak out."