26 April 2010 07:44 am
The eviction programme carried out by the military personnel begun early this morning. The hawkers who had their structures destroyed told Daily Mirror online that they did not fight back and were now seated on the pavement as a mark of protest.
“We do not have the strength to fight against the military and police but we will sit here today to show our protest. It is unfair to ruin our businesses this way. We have been functioning here for years,” hawker, Saman Anura Perera said.
Acting Mayor of Kandy Suminda Wickramasingha had told Daily Mirror online last week that the hawkers would be given an alternative area to run their businesses and the eviction programme was carried out in order to clean up the Kandy city and make room for pedestrians to walk peacefully on the pavements.
A discussion is expected to take place between the Kandy Municipal Council members and the pavement hawkers on April 28 in a bid to solve the issue peacefully. (JN)