Street vendors protest planned eviction

YOGYAKARTA: More than 300 street vendors, who live along the banks of Mataram River in Sleman regency here, rejected on Thursday a plan by the Sleman government to evict them.

Riding a truck, five cars and dozens of motorcycles, the street vendors descended on the official residence of Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X here to solicit support from him to cancel the plan.

But, the protesters went home disappointed, as Suwarno, an official with the Yogyakarta governor's office, told the protesters that the governor was out of town.

Meanwhile, despite the protest, Sleman regent Ibnu Subiyanto pledged that he would stick to his plan to evict the street vendors. -- JP