Ageing fertiliser factory stifles town

Like thousands who have turned out to protest in her southern Tunisian city of Gabes, Aioua is demanding the closure of a nearby chemical factory, blaming it for a range of serious health issues. "I was in the classroom when I felt my throat burning and my head getting heavy, then I fainted," said Ahmed, Aioua's son. The factory "is deadly poison", his 40-year-old mother cried. "It must be dismantled."

Since early September Gabes has recorded an increasing number of respiratory distress and other health problems, sparking fresh protests. Other students in Ahmed's school at Chott Essalem, a coastal neighbourhood not far from the phosphate processing plant, have also complained of ailments linked to the factory's pollution.

Several residents have recently been hospitalised for gas poisoning and other issues, with 122 on Tuesday alone, according to the authorities.

Locals in Gabes have said the factory, which processes phosphate to make fertilisers, has been emitting more toxic gases into the air lately. That comes on top of the solid radioactive waste the plant, opened in 1972, discharges into the Mediterranean.

Ahmed Guefrech, a local assembly member, blamed the toxic gas leaks on "dilapidated units installed 53 years ago, with run-down equipment and no maintenance".