Protestors attacked the country's transport minister, pulling him out of his car and forcing him to inhale toxic fumes from waste dumped there nearly a month ago, witnesses said.
The minister, Innocent Anaky Kobeman, was driving through Akouedo district, one of the several affected suburbs, when he was stopped by a group of residents protesting the continued presence of the toxic waste in their neighbourhood.
Akouedo residents took to the streets to express their discontent after smelling afresh a strong odour coming out of the waste dumped in their suburb at end of August by an Ivorian firm.
The death toll from the waste poisoning has risen to seven as thousands of residents continue to flood medical clinics fearing they have been poisoned.
The health ministry announced that 26,000 medical consultations were recorded across the city after the 500-plus tonnes of waste were dumped on 14 open-air rubbish tips around the city.
Prime Minister Konan Banny, presiding over a skeletal government after his cabinet stepped down over the scandal last week, said that a clean-up operation would begin on Sunday.
Seven people, including the heads of local waste disposal firm Tommy and two other Ivorian companies, have been arrested.
Tommy is blamed for dumping the sludge, which has caused nausea, rashes, fainting, diarrhoea and headaches.
Dutch-based multinational trading company Trafigura, which operates the Probo Koala cargo ship which unloaded the industrial waste residue, insists it acted lawfully having handed the waste over to Tommy to dispose of correctly.