Dissatisfied vendors who were forced to move from six shops buildings located in front of the Department of Information and Public Relations in Sittwe on 28 July demonstrated on Monday.

They demanded to settle issues through legal means, for all shop vendors to have equality, to procure new facilities for shop owners who are forced to move and to demolish the shops after the rainy season.

“Staff from the Department of Information and Public Relations in collaboration with authorities and law enforcement members treated shop owners in an unprofessional demeanor. That’s why we demand justice to decide the situation of the shops leased by the department under a contract,” said U Tun Oo Kyaw, one of the vendors who participated in the demonstration.

The demonstrators said that the department notified them on 23 July to move from the shops by 28 July.

The vendors recently requested authorities to postpone their demolishing plan until the end of rainy season, but tension had increased between vendors and authorities when authorities forced vendors from their leased stalls.

U Maung Maung, deputy director of the Department of Information and Public Relations, said that they have to resort to force to remove vendors because shops are not allowed to operate in front of the department because of security issues.

In Arakan State’s capital Sittwe, over 70 shops leased around the compound of the Sittwe Myoma police station were removed on 15 June to upgrade the security of the police station.