Clean-up operation catches Beckford Street vendors by surprise

BY COREY ROBINSON Observer staff reporter robinsonc@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

DOZENS of vendors in downtown Kingston, yesterday watched helplessly as their stalls were destroyed as a major police operation to clean the streets of the busy shopping hub continued into a fifth day.

Several vendors who ply their trades on Beckford Street, said the police's action had taken them by surprise.

"I don't understand how them come around here and are destroying people's stall," said a slippers vendor, who identified herself as 'Fat Merl'.

"Last week they (police) told us that we were OK and (that) they wouldn't trouble us as long as we don't come in the road. So I don't understand this now," lamented the woman, whose stall was positioned on the sidewalk and was in line to be destroyed.

"We pay our fees to KSAC (Kingston and St Andrew Corporation) every time them due and this is how they treat us!" she said.

Yesterday, a front-end loader was seen clearing pile of broken board, metal and zinc, from a section of the roadway and loading them onto two trucks. The operation — which also spanned sections of West Queen and Heywood streets — was overseen by a large contingent of police officers.

Two male vendors who attempted to remove sheets of zinc from the rubble, was stopped in their tracks by a tough-talking policeman.

Meanwhile, 52-year-old clothes vendor Annette Williams, said she was disappointed as to how the operation was executed.

"How them come and do this thing is total foolishness. Even Mayor Desmond McKenzie saying that he didn't know about it. Then tell me, is police running the country now?" a fuming Williams asked, noting that it appeared the lawmen intentionally waited until yesterday, a holiday, when fewer vendors were present to defend their goods.

Williams said her livelihood was threatened by the operation, and that she had nowhere else to go.

She has, however, put all he trust in the Lord in the hope that He will "help bring me back on my feet".

One irate female vendor on Heywood Street lamented the cost of rebuilding her stall. She said the wooden structure cost about $3,000, "and that don't included my zinc and metal that they take away from me," she said.

But even as the majority of the vendors complained, some welcomed the move, saying it was long overdue.

"This is bad, but sometimes good things come out of bad. Because is long time this needed to be done," said a male vendor, as he watched the operation on Beckford Street.

"The place was congested for true and although many of us don't want to admit it, is pure thieves that use to harbour. This will help we get rid of them," he continued.

Up until yesterday, the police said they had removed more than 28 tonnes of debris from the streets since the operation began.

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Clean-up operation catches Beckford Street vendors by surprise