1,000 traders refuse to relocate

1,000 traders refuse to relocate

PURWOKERTO, Central Java: About 1,000 traders in the regency of
Purwokerto in Central Java reiterated their refusal on Monday to
relocate to another area adjacent to the current traditional
market.

They continued operating stalls at the Wage traditional
market, the biggest in the regency, in protest of a planned
relocation to another site on Jl. Jendral Soedirman.

The local administration gave them 10 days to move to the
newly built market, where traders claim they will have much
smaller plots of land than what both sides agreed on before.

"We will not move. This place is ours," a protester said on
Monday.

The protesting traders have sought legal assistance from the
Purwokerto branch of the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights
Association (PBHI) to back their struggle in exercising their
rights.

They said they would continue the protest with a higher
turnout expected on Tuesday. --JP