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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | October 2007 
Mexico City Clears 15,000 Street Vendors
 Agence France-Presse
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| | Thousand of peddlers protest against Mexico City's Mayor, Marcelo Ebrad, during a march to the Zocalo Square, 11 October 2007. Visitors to Mexico City's historic center were to find it unusually empty this weekend after authorities forced thousands of unlicensed vendors to clear their stalls from its crowded streets. (AFP//Luis Acosta) |
Mexico City - Visitors to Mexico City's historic center were to find it unusually empty this weekend after authorities forced thousands of unlicensed vendors to clear their stalls from its crowded streets.
Hundreds of police enforced the clear-out Friday on the mayor's orders after pressure from authorized traders and from the public who complained of stalls cluttering pavements and displaying pornographic films for sale in view of children.
The streets usually jam-packed with teeming crowds were largely deserted on Friday as a result, transforming the appearance of the old colonial district which Mayor Marcelo Ebrard wants to restore to its past beauty.
As for the vendors with their pirated DVDs, watches and clothing, some 12,000 to 15,000 of them were relocated to spots cleared for them elsewhere in the city center, the authorities said.
Pedestrians in the old center for a change did not have to weave and push to find their way between the crowded stalls, but could stroll at a more leisurely pace and admire the Spanish colonial architecture.
Road traffic was almost fluid, without the previous chorus of honking horns.
"You can see the facades (of the buildings), it's a great discovery," said Paulina Vazquez, a 22-year-old student. "Since I was born, I had never been able to realize how beautiful some of the houses were. Here you're usually swamped in the crowd."
Vendors demonstrated on Thursday in an angry protest against the clear-out. They fear losing their livelihoods or at least suffer a drop in trade if forced to sell in the market places where they have been relocated.
"We live from day to day. I have three children to feed," said Carlos Ramirez, 35, who has sold perfume at an unauthorized stall since he was six years old with his parents.
"I am going to have to sell on the sly and if the police come, I'll run off." |
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