Protesters burn National Guard station south of Tunisia

SFAX, Tunisia

Angry protesters in Tunisia’s southern town of Agareb burned a National Guard station on Tuesday following the death of a protester a day earlier.

His family said the protester died from a gas canister fired by security forces during overnight protests. The Tunisian Interior Ministry denied the family’s account.

The protests in Agareb in Sfax province were initially sparked by the authorities’ reopening of a landfill site that was closed in late September due to complaints filed by locals that it polluted the environment.

According to an Anadolu Agency reporter, security forces withdrew from the area after renewed clashes during which protesters set the National Guard station ablaze.

No casualties have been reported.

On Monday evening, Tunisian President Kais Saied called on Interior Minister Taoufik Charafeddine to immediately intervene to put an end to the escalation in Sfax, according to a Facebook post by the Tunisian presidency.

Tunisia has been in the grip of a deep political crisis since Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority on July 25.

The developments in Agareb pose a serious challenge to the recently unveiled new Cabinet headed by Najla Bouden, who was appointed by Saied as the country’s first female prime minister.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara