An armed police takes his position as petty traders regroup at Mchikichini Market in Dar es Salaam yesterday. Eye witnesses told The Guardian, city militias had to call for a backup when defiant petty traders refused to vacate the roadside and engaged them in running battles.
Business came to a stand still for hours yesterday at Mchikichini market in Ilala municipality when hawkers engaged the police and militiamen in running battles.
The hawkers’ fierce resistance forced the police to fire teargas to disperse them.
Militiamen and the police cordoned off Mchikichini market in the wee hours of Tuesday to ensure that hawkers did not access their stalls in the area, which the government has declared out of bounds.
The vendors turned violent and began pelting the security forces with stones when they discovered that some belongings were missing after their makeshift stalls were demolished.
The eviction of the hawkers is a continuation of the exercise that started end of last month to ensure that they are moved out of the central business district.
Since the Ilala municipal authorities announced the eviction of hawkers two weeks ago, a number of them had invaded the Mchikichini bus stage.
Interviewed, the chairman of Mchikichini Market Jobu Mwakatobe said the security officers deployed by local government authorities sealed off the area after three-day notice to hawkers to vacate the area.
”The sad part of it is that most vendors who set up shops .
