Mayor pledges action against street vendors
Athens Mayor Dora Bakoyannis yesterday promised a municipal crackdown in seven weeks’ time on unlicensed street vendors and on shop owners who cram the city’s narrow pavements with their wares. During a prowl round the city center, Bakoyannis promised that once an extra 500 municipal policemen hit the streets of Athens at the beginning of June – raising the force to 630 – tough action will be taken against all illegal street vendors. «Order will be imposed,» she said. Currently, only 160 people hold municipal permits to sell wares from stalls and carts in the city center, where thousands of illegal vendors have set up shop, to the intense annoyance of shopkeepers. Walking along Athinas Street, Bakoyannis threatened to impose stiff fines on shop owners who take up pavement space with their wares.
