The Tunisian Ministry of Interior said that the young man who died had nothing to do with the protests, and died in his home, which is six kilometers from the protest, due to a health emergency.
On Monday, Tunisian police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who reject the authorities’ decision to reopen a landfill in the town of Aqrab, in southern Tunisia.
The closure of the landfill in the town of Aqrab resulted in the accumulation of thousands of tons of household waste for about a month in the streets, markets, and even in front of hospitals in Sfax, the second largest Tunisian city.
The accumulation of household waste in the streets sparked widespread anger in Sfax. Thousands demonstrated in Sfax last week, saying the authorities were deliberately killing them and violating their right to life.
The Aqrab landfill, located 20 kilometers from Sfax, was closed this year after a complaint from the townspeople, who said that diseases had spread and that they were suffering an environmental catastrophe because of the dump, which had reached its maximum capacity.
Earlier on Monday, President Kais Saied called on the Minister of the Interior and the Prime Minister to find an immediate solution to the accumulation of waste in Sfax.
Subsequently, the Ministry of Environment, late on Monday evening, reopened the closed dump, despite the issuance of a judicial decision to prevent its reopening.
Eyewitnesses said that with the start of collecting waste from Sfax and loading it towards scorpions, hundreds of young people gathered, rejecting the decision to open the dump, prompting the police to fire gas to disperse them.
They added that violent confrontations are taking place between the police and protesters in the streets of the town.
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