Dhaka, Oct. 17 -- Police fired tear gas as thousands of protesters clashed with security forces in the southern Tunisian city of Gabes on Wednesday, demanding action over worsening air pollution from a nearby phosphate-processing plant.

The unrest erupted when demonstrators tried to march toward the industrial complex, located in a restricted military zone. Several protesters and police officers were injured as tensions flared in the city of over 400,000 people, a hub of Tunisia's phosphate industry.

The protest followed a recent gas leak near the state-run Chemical Group of Tunisia (GCT) plant that sent dozens, including children, to hospitals, reigniting anger over decades of unchecked industrial pollution.

Residents accuse the plant...