PATTAYA – A group of street vendors discovered that Pattaya hasn’t forgotten about its ban on peddlers.
More than seven months after the last big confrontation between the city and independent sellers, municipal officers were out again Feb. 7 near the Hard Rock Hotel fining peddlers hawking their wares to passing tourists.
For nearly a year ending in July 2017, Pattaya was at virtual war with street vendors who had worked beaches and shopping malls for decades. Heavy fines were exacted, and repeated sweeps launched by municipal officers backed by soldiers.
The campaign worked, for a while. As is so often the case in Pattaya, big initiatives receive little follow up. But peddlers who thought they could go back to their old ways found out the new boss in Pattaya is not the same as the old boss.
Deputy Mayor Bandit Kunnajukr inspected the area and next sent the city hall officers to roust homeless people squatting under walkways or begging from mats on the sidewalk.
Homeless people taken into custody were sent to the Chonburi Protection Center for the Destitute.
Before calling it a day, Bandit also had officers measure plots being used by beach chair vendors, forcing those spreading out beyond their legal limits to move.
