Spanish
A court in Gabes, on the east coast of Tunisia, postponed this Thursday, for the seventh time, the verdict on the suspension of work at a polluting chemical complex in the town, pending its definitive closure, as requested by the prosecution, after causing respiratory damage to more than a thousand people, and rescheduled it for February 12, reported the NGO Stop Pollution.
Since last October, the ruling was postponed seven times, despite being a case classified as "urgent", due to the health problems that the complex's factories have caused to the population since the beginning of September, due to the increase in leaks of polluting gases.
This new postponement occurred, according to statements by the head of the Gabes regional lawyers' office, Munir al-Adouni, to local radio Mosaique, for "deliberation and subsequent pronouncement of the verdict".
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Faced with this decision, dozens of citizens protested in front of the courthouse, where they insisted on the urgency of dismantling the factories - dedicated, fundamentally, to the phosphate industry - considering that their continuity poses "a high risk to respiratory health". When the verdict is issued, if it is favorable to the prosecution, the production units must immediately halt operations, pending a subsequent resolution for their definitive dismantling. Popular claims, recurring for more than a decade, intensified in the last three months, with massive demonstrations and a general strike held on October 21st in the region.For the time being, Kais Said's government did not publicly raise the possibility of dismantling the facilities, but rather proposed to reactivate six projects worth 200 million dinars (59 million euros) to end toxic gas emissions and for the factories to continue production.
In addition, the Executive appointed a committee of "experts" to evaluate different options that "resolve" the problem and are "satisfactory" for all parties. The Gabes Regional Medical Council, which described the continuation of activities as "unacceptable", warned of the "catastrophic and serious health effects" and the "evident" damage caused "over successive decades" and accentuated since last September. The approach of the health union was supported by more than fifty organizations and associations from all over the country, as well as unions and companies in the affected area.
