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Leonce
Street vendors in Vieux-Fort town are having things their way. Over the years, they have defied orders from both the police and the Vieux-Fort South Constituency Council to vacate the sidewalks.
And now Inspector Marcellinus Leonce of the Vieux-Fort Police Station intends to put a stop to it. He said it’s time the law be reinforced.
“I will ensure that the officers on the beat get them (vendors) off the sidewalks. The law is the law…. We have a responsibility to enforce the law,” he told this reporter in an interview.
Leonce added that there are specific sections of the Criminal Code that deals with such offence.
“Those vendors who break the law will be charged and put before the courts. Some people think they can inconvenience others and it’s okay. No it’s not okay….” Leonce said.
Complaints from business owners along Clarke Street that the vendors block the entrances of their businesses, coupled with the unsightly scene of agricultural produce and fish guts lying on the sidewalks had led to the police taking such action.
At a meeting with the Vieux-Fort South Constituency Council and the vendors over a year ago, the police issued the vendors a stern warning to vacate the sidewalks and seek other areas to do their vending, or face prosecution. But as in the past, their admonition fell on deaf ear.
The vendors would vacate the sidewalks for a few months and return. Over the years, the police had held several meetings with them on the contentious issue, but they all turned out to be an abundance of talk with no follow-up action. And while they occupy the sidewalks, the Vieux-Fort Market remains empty.
According to the defiant vendors, they do not make money at the market because of its location, so they are not prepared to go there. They described the market area as a “ghost town”.
“Selling in the market is a waste of time. No one goes to the market to buy food. Everything is done here (Clarke Street),” a vendor said in disgust.
Over the years, there have been an increase in the number of businesses, houses and government departments at Beanefield, where the commercial activities in Vieux-Fort town are now centered.
Such development has also prompted the vendors to gravitate closer to that area.
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