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)