Pattaya officials backed up by soldiers took to Beach Road to stamp out the last street vendors struggling against the ongoing city crackdown.
City legal chief Sretapol Boonsawat led soldiers from the 21st Infantry, Queen’s Guard on the morning patrol along Beach Road Sept. 23, checking not only the footpath along the beach, but sidewalks across the road and even private property.
Sretapol said soldiers and city officials will patrol the beachfront Friday-Sunday mornings to ensure no independent businesspeople are selling their wares on the sidewalks. Violators will be fined 2,000 baht.
The military-backed patrols are the latest offensive by the city’s top lawyer to stamp out hawkers and street vendors he blames for causing litter and traffic congestion. Future patrols will target Second, North, South and Thepprasit roads.
Authorities found little resistance to the no-hawker rule until they arrived at Royal Garden Plaza, where sellers had set up on property owned by the mall and leased by Pizza Co.
Soldiers tried to roust the vendors from their spots, but the sellers insisted they were on private, not public property, had the permission of the pizza restaurant and that the soldiers had no authority to remove them.
Sretapol claimed that the city was within its rights to banish the vendors of it deemed their area “disorganized”, even if it was on private property adjacent to public land.
There was no mention made of the plethora of motorcycle rentals crowding public streets.
The city will meet with shopping mall and restaurant executives to make their point of view clear.
