(18 Feb 1999) Spanish/Nat
Several people have been injured during clashes between police and street vendors in Lima, Peru.
The vendors were evicted for selling without a licence and complained that the authorities did not give them an alternative venue to sell their goods.
They had been selling textiles - manufactured in nearby factories - for 15 years in the same area.
Violence flared early Thursday in the streets of Gamarra - a poor neighbourhood in the Peruvian capital, Lima.
Some three-thousand street vendors were evicted from their stalls last night after 15 years of selling their goods there.
This morning they came back to set up their stalls and protest the measures.
Police fired tear gas to disperse the vendors who faced them with a hail of stones.
Cars were overturned.
Some demonstrators turned to looting the hundreds of stores that line the streets.
The vendors claim they have been left with little choice by the government.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"Look sir. The authorities, we have looked for their help with all means possible. They have not been able to provide us with a solution. Over 3 to 4 (th) thousand street sellers work here, earning a modest living. We live in the Peruvian capital, selling a Peruvian product. We have no alternative. We have no alternative. Where are we going to work?"
SUPER CAPTION: Voxpop, Demonstrator
Gamarra neighbourhood is the centre of the textile industry in Lima and these vendors had been selling the factories' manufactured goods without a license.
Usually, evicted vendors are sent to another location where they can legally operate.
In this instance, these vendors claim that they were given no other alternative.
Several people have been reported injured and others police have made numerous arrests during the clashes.
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