Gabes, Tunisia's protest hotspot, is now a 'nightmare for the environment'.

Under a smog-choked skies, the waters of Gabes are now darkened with rusty streaks. The air is filled with a suffocating smell, trees are dying and fish are disappearing.

A generation ago, the town was known as an eco-jewel of green oases. Today, it is a toxic wasteland, rife in cancer, respiratory illnesses and bone diseases.

Residents, environmentalists, and officials blame a state-owned phosphates-processing plant, Tunisian Chemical Group (CGT), whose smokestacks tower over litter-strewn beach.

The anger over the plant has exploded this month and become one of the biggest challenges facing President Kais Saied since he came to power in 2019. The police used tear gas to disperse the protesters that stormed the plant, and thousands of people returned to the street on Wednesday.

Contrary to other recent protests in Gabes, the demonstrators there are not calling for civic liberties but instead a change of conditions that they find intolerable.

"The plant poisoned everything, including the trees, sea and people," Safouan Kbibieh said during a recent trip. "Even Gabes pomegranates taste like smoke now."

Saied has called the conditions in Gabes an "environmental murder," but blamed previous governments and asked ministries to fix leaks of chemical substances.

CGT has not responded to any questions. Tunisia's Health Ministry could not comment immediately.

'LET US BREATHE'

The Gabes complex, built over a half century ago, is Tunisia’s largest phosphates-processing plant. It accounts for more than half of the country's output. The industry is a vital source of revenue for a government that has been plagued by high debt levels and slow growth.

Residents describe a high price. It is difficult to find a family in the nearby towns of Ghannouch or Chott Essalem whose life has not been shaped by illness and loss.

Rimel ElHaji, 45 described how, about a week ago, her daughter, nine, began gasping and walking more slowly, along with other students who were also affected.

Haji explained that the girl's mother now helps her with simple movements, as a result of the neurological damage caused by suffocation.

Haji said, "She is unable to walk more than 2 steps." "She is fading like a flower in the sun."

Amina, a 53-year-old woman, lives two kilometers away in a brick house that is covered with dust and chemical residue. Her shelves are stacked with medications to treat her throat cancer and osteoporosis, which she first discovered six years ago.

She says, "Doctors told me that I must leave this town in order to survive." Where would we go?" "This is our home."

She said that six members of her family had been diagnosed with cancer. "This pollution is slowly causing us to die," she said.

Maha Mahmoud, the neighbour next door, is clutching an inhaler that she refers to as her "daily food."

"We don't ask for jobs or food anymore. We only want to dismantle chemical units. "Let us breathe", she said.

Residents blame the plant as well for the collapse of fish stocks. Sassi Alaya said that he used to make 700 Tunisian Dinars ($240), but now he's lucky to get 20. He has been fishing for more than 25 years and now farms to feed his children.

He said, "The sea was our livelihood and dignity." "Now it's a horror."

"LIKE A WARZONE"

According to a copy of the report, an expert audit conducted by CGT in July 2025 found "serious violations" with respect to international standards and national requirements.

Audits found that the complex dumped between 14,000-15,000 tonnes of phosphogypsum, a by-product of phosphate processing, into the ocean and along the coastline every day. It also released high levels of ammonia and nitrogen oxides, as well as sulfates. The discharges "significantly damaged marine seagrass bed and led to desertification in large marine areas".

The website of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states that Phosphogypsum is a source of radium. Radium decays into radon, and both are radioactive, and can cause cancer. The EPA in the United States requires that phosphogypsum is managed as engineered stacks or piles to reduce public exposure to radon.

It is difficult to link pollution in Gabes with the illnesses that residents suffer. Kraiem T. Taoufik is a local physician who confirmed that illnesses increased as the conditions worsened.

He said, "The city is like a battle zone." "Where once we saw a few cases of cancer quarterly, they now appear every day." Residents live on top of a chemical bomb.

Authorities have promised to renovate the plant, despite the tensions and the dwindling finances of the state. The plans have not been able to calm activists or residents who are at the breaking point.

Kbibieh said, "For each ton of processed phosphate, one soul is lost." "But we will not abandon our land." "We'll fight until Gabes breathes again." Reporting by Tarek Amar, Editing by Alexander Dziadosz & William Maclean

(source: Reuters)