A 35-year-old protester in Tunisia has died after inhaling tear gas fired by police to disperse protesters.
A Tunisian man has died after inhaling tear gas fired by police to disperse a protest against the reopening of a landfill in the central part of the country, it became known today from a hospital source and his family.
The 35-year-old man died last night in Agareb, a town in Sfax province where protests have been taking place in recent weeks over the problem of garbage flooding streets and sidewalks, threatening the health of residents.
"Abderazek Laseheb was taken to Agareb hospital for suffocation," a hospital official told AFP.
"He arrived alive but after massive tear gas was fired in front of the hospital (in order to disperse a group of protesters) he died (...) The police killed him," said his cousin Hussein Laseheb.
According to a correspondent of the French agency that is there, the order forces threw tear gas to dissolve the protesters flying stones in their direction.
The prosecutor's office launched an investigation to determine the causes of his death.
Protests resumed today and protesters set fire to a national guard post, Interior Ministry spokesman Yasser Mesbach told AFP.
The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FIDES) said in a statement that the city of Agareb "saw a violent intervention by security forces on Monday night to force the reopening of the Kena landfill."
"The massive use of tear gas caused the death of Abderazek Laseheb," said the NGO, which closely monitors social movements in Tunisia.
The interior ministry denied that the man was injured by tear gas, saying he was taken to hospital for a health problem unrelated to the incidents.
"The man had a health problem that had nothing to do with the protests, his transport to the hospital and his death have nothing to do with what happened," Mesbach, a ministry spokesman, told AFP.
Videos shared on social media show residents fleeing tear gas in front of the Agareb hospital as Abdelrazek Laseheb's relatives protest angrily after his death.
Under pressure from residents, the main landfill in Sfax province, located in Agareb, was closed in late September. The municipalities of the area then refused to collect the garbage, estimating that the state did not find tangible solutions to the problem of waste management.
A meeting between Prime Minister Nazla Bouden and Interior Minister Tawfiq Sarfedin on Monday underscored the urgency of resolving the Sfax waste issue.
