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Tuesday,
August 21,
2007, #159 (1426)
By Eter Tsotniashvili Dry Bridge street vendors rallied on the steps of City Hall August 20 in an ongoing campaign for the right to trade their wares around the central Tbilisi landmark. Police evicted the street vendors from Dry Bridge on August 8, after registered merchants at the nearby bazaar complained of unfair competition from the unlicensed traders. Giorgi Lagidze, head of Human Rights Defense of Georgia, which along with political movement Georgian Troupe organized the rally, said his group won't back down until the street vendors are allowed back to the spots they've occupied for years. "We have one demand: to return the vendors to their places on Dry Bridge. If our demands are not met, we'll take the case to court. Our government might try to justified itself by saying that [unlicensed] street trade is forbidden, but these people are not merchants-they're the very poor who take cutlery and dishes from their houses to sell," Lagidze said. Lagidze claimed that artists sold their work alongside the evicted street vendors without any hassle from authorities. He says the artists, like the street vendors, don't use cash registers or pay taxes. "We have nothing against the artists, but it's unfair to crack down on all the vendors next to the artists, who are left without any income whatsoever. We'll be satisfied if City Hall allows the street vendors to trade on the weekends. Otherwise, the protests will continue," Lagidze told the Messenger. Lagidze says any court case that doesn't go their way in Georgia will be taken to Strasbourg. The Dry Bridge street vendors are mostly old and uniformly poor, selling off household items to make ends meet. They've been left without any way to make money after police booted them off Dry Bridge, they say. Naira Avjanishvili began trading at Dry Bridge 13 years ago after finishing university but not being able to find a job. She is her family's sole breadwinner, and doesn't know how she'll support them now. "We were standing in the street and trading to earn basic money. We mainly sold old things and antiques from our houses. I've learnt how to stand outside during this government's rule," she said. Not everyone wants the street vendors back on Dry Bridge. Antiques merchants in the bazaar below the bridge pay market fees and taxes, and complain that the unlicensed vendors steal their customers. The street vendors were invited to sell their goods inside the bazaar, using cash registers and paying GEL 40 a month to be there. That was never a realistic possibility given the street vendors' razor-thin profit margins. Some of the now-jobless street traders are bitter. "I'm ashamed to say it, but I hate my country…It's impossible to live here-they won't even let us eat bread. I'm not asking the government to give me a job or money; I just want to continue my job and have my own income," protestor Zurab Maisuradze said. Georgian Troupe leader Jondi Baghaturia, a familiar figure at Tbilisi demonstrations, slammed the perceived injustice of banning the Dry Bridge street trade. "Have a look [at the protesting street traders]-they're old, some of them are disabled. What can these people do to buy food? The government demands that they buy cash registers. It's ridiculous! Imagine, you sell your own spoon or knife and ring it up on a cash register," Bagaturia said, speaking with the Messenger. Baghaturia was encouraged, however, by City Hall promises to take on the issue soon. And if they don't,
he added, the next protest is pencilled in for August 23. |
Street
vendors, banned from Dry Bridge, march on City Hall
