Vendors protest demolition plan

Vendors protest demolition plan

JAKARTA (JP): About 40 street vendors operating on Jl.
Matraman Dalam in Central Jakarta flocked to the Jakarta Legal
Aid Institute yesterday, asking its lawyers to persuade local
authorities to postpone the demolition of their stalls.

According to the street vendors, who have been running their
businesses there for 16 years, local authorities unexpectedly
announced the demolition plan at a meeting with them on Sunday.

The authorities said that the Central Jakarta mayor had issued
a decree that a public park be developed on the site used by the
street vendors.

However, the officials concerned declined to show the vendors
either the decree or the plans fir the park, institute spokesman
Irianto Subiakto quoted one of the street vendors as saying.

The traders said they believed that the authorities were
acting on a false report made in a local newspaper a day before
the demolition plan was announced. They said that reporters had
interviewed the vendors on Sept. 28. On Sept. 30 an article
appeared saying that the authorities had asked the vendors for Rp
250,000 in levies. On Oct. 1 the authorities announced the
demolition plan, the traders said.

The traders, who sell various items, ranging from food to
cigarettes, said they had not said anything to the reporters
about Rp 250,000 levies.

They said that the local authorities had asked them to pay
between Rp 2,150 and Rp 4,200 per trader per day for electricity
and security. (bsr)