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