Street vendors respond to GAM campaign: ‘We are going to come back after every removal’

AMMAN — The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) launched a campaign on Monday to “forcefully remove all street vendor stalls with the help of the Public Security Department and Gendarmerie Department forces”, according to Mazen Farajeen, GAM’s spokesperson.

Farajeen added, “the campaign comes after the municipality has issued several warnings to the vendors in the past year without receiving any response or cooperation in return”.

Abu Ali, a street vendor selling snacks in Jabal Al Hussein told The Jordan Times, “the municipality has been chasing us for years, but unless we are presented with a better alternative, we are going to come back after every removal campaign”.

Abu Ali complained that the municipality assigns locations for booths and stalls “far from busy markets that are frequented by a large number of visitors” which in turn “provides no customers for the stall”.

However, Abu Ali and other vendors, who echoed his statement, are considered “a problem and an annoyance” to shop owners and pedestrians interviewed by The Jordan Times.

Zaid Qalawi, a shop owner near Abu Ali’s cart, told The Jordan Times, “street vendors hurt business for us licensed shop owners. Shoppers think of street vendors as the cheaper option, but that’s only because they don’t pay rent or license fees”.

“I wouldn’t mind them if they weren’t setting up their stalls right outside my shop and selling the exact same items we do at lower prices. It’s unfair and illegal,” said Riyad Safadi, also a shop owner in an area filled with street vendors.

As for pedestrians, street vendors pose an inconvenience as to their walking path. “Sometimes you are forced to walk on the streets just because the sidewalk is filled with stalls and people buying from the stalls,” said Hanaa Tawfeek, a citizen shopping with her friend in Al Nuzha,  which is an area filled with street vendors.

Sarah Zrigat, a resident of Al Nuzha, told The Jordan Times that she dislikes street vendors because “they often catcall and harass the women walking or shopping”.

However, some citizens were against the removal of the stalls by calling them “a cultural element”. Fuad Zayed told The Jordan Times: “Street vendors are more or less a part of Jordanian culture. Can you imagine downtown Amman without snack carts or used clothes stalls? It’s no fun?”

Others opposed the campaign because “it would send those vendors into the arms of theft or beggary”, as Muna Abbadi, a university student, said.

Farajeen addressed the opposition to the campaign by saying that the law “is not looking to put the vendors out of a job, but to organise the process for their sake and the people”.

The GAM stated in a report made available to The Jordan Times that it will begin implementation of the campaign as early as this week, and it stressed that street vendors should get a licence and move to their assigned spots to avoid forceful removal.