Published On 19/10/2025
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Last update: 02:28 (Mecca time)
The Tunisian General Labor Union, the largest union organization in Tunisia, announced on Saturday a general strike in the governorate of Gabes, southeast of the country, next Tuesday, in protest against pollution coming from the city’s chemical complex units.
The decision comes against the backdrop of an ongoing wave of protests carried out by the people of Gabès for days, demanding the cessation of gas emissions and pollutants issued by production units, amid warnings of environmental and health deterioration.
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Salah Ben Hamed, Secretary General of the Local Labor Union in Gabès, confirmed that the regional administrative body of the union, which met on Saturday, had unanimously taken the decision to strike the regional general strike. He explained in a statement to Mosaique FM radio that the body would remain in session to interact with any decision taken.
On the other hand, Tunisian President Kais Saied confirmed, earlier Saturday, that work is underway with the aim of finding urgent and immediate solutions to the pollution, according to a presidential statement, after he called a few days ago to put an end to chemical pollution in the governorate and to repair what needs to be repaired as soon as possible.
Last week, the Peace Beach area witnessed a protest in which a number of residents participated, denouncing the deteriorating environmental situation, after a group of middle school students suffocated last September as a result of gas emissions from the industrial units of the chemical complex.
The Labor Union, Gabès branch, said in a brief statement on its Facebook account that the regional administrative body decided to go on a general strike on Tuesday, October 21.
In a previous statement, the Union considered that “Gabes has been subjected to a process of slow and silent killing for decades due to polluting industries that have destroyed the health of the population and the environment by land, sea and air,” and called on the authorities to dismantle polluting industrial units and stop harmful activities.
The chemical complex is located in the Beach of Peace area, which is inhabited by about 18,000 people, approximately 4 kilometers from the city of Gabes. The complex was established in 1972, and inside it there are units for filtering phosphate.