Tunisia’s General Trade Union (UGTT) has called for a national strike on Wednesday in Aguereb, in the central region of Sfax, a day after a demonstrator allegedly died from inhaling tear gas fired by police to disperse protests against the reopening of a landfill site.
Abderrazek Lacheheb, a 35-year-old man died in the town of Aguereb which has witnessed weeks of angry demonstrations over a growing waste crisis and violent confrontations over security forces reopening a landfill.
UGTT declared Wednesday a day of mourning for Abderrazek Lacheheb, 35, and demanded that the perpetrators behind his killing be held accountable, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The trade union which has about one million members and plays a major political force in Tunisian called for a judicial investigation into what it called the “intentional murder of a young man” during the protests.
The Tunisian Ministry of Interior denied that Lacheheb had been suffocated by tear gas, saying he had been admitted to the hospital for a health condition unrelated to the protests.
The union also called for the lifting of what it described as a “siege” on Aguereb and called for the permanent closure of the landfill and full compensation of its workers.
The landfill in Aqrab was closed in late September, and the decision came after protests against the dumping of chemical waste at the site designated for household waste.
City councils in the region have since refused to collect the trash, complaining that the state has not found a workable alternative, leaving trash bags stacked in the city’s streets.
After its reopening, hundreds of young people gathered, resisting the decision, as police fired tear gas to disperse them.
On Tuesday, the Tunisian Forum for Rights warned against “the return of security measures to address legitimate social demands”, which “will only complicate the social and political situation.”
Tunisian President Kais Saied called on Interior Minister Tawfiq Charafeddine and Prime Minister Najla Bouden in a meeting with them on Monday to find urgent solutions to the environmental situation in Sfax, which he described as “catastrophic.”
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