“We are working to be able to put an end to these mafias,” said the government after a new day of eviction in Barrio Meiggs, taken over by street vendors who do not have permits. The Metropolitan presidential delegate stated that this is a problem that extends to other sectors.
“We are working for to be able to end these mafias that have terrorized the citizenry”, said the Metropolitan presidential delegate, after a new day of eviction in the Meiggs neighborhood. She emphasized that “it is a regional problem.”
It was during the early hours of this Saturday that the new operation took place, in the context of the eradication of street vendors by the Government.
It was two days in a row that Carabineros, together with personnel from the municipality, carried out the operations. This happens after the acts of violence that occurred on May 1 during incidents for Labor Day, where the journalist Francisca Sandoval was shot. The young woman died on the 12th of the same month due to her injuries.
Major Gorka Verde, from the Second Police Station in Santiago, referred to the procedure carried out in conjunction with the municipality to eradicate street vendors from the neighborhood, emphasizing that they proceeded to “removal of awnings and metal structures and everything that is generating invisibilities and generating this current situation that is lived in the Meiggs neighborhood ”.
The operation focused on San Alfonso street, where a large part of the “blue awnings” used by illegal traders, which were removed from the place.
The Metropolitan presidential delegate, Constanza Martínez, referred to the strategies to be followed by the authority, in addition to the eviction and the magnitude of the problem that is being faced, which is not limited only to the Meiggs sector.
“We are recovering these spaces (…) we know this is not a specific issue in the Meiggs neighborhood, it is a regional problem (…) we are working to put an end to these mafias that have terrorized citizens,” said the delegate.
During the week, there was another act of violence involving street vendors, when eight subway workers were injuredafter an attempt to evict the illegal merchants who settle in the Ñuñoa metro station.
Awnings, machete, a rapier and threat of being “bold” in Meiggs neighborhood
This Friday they reported 23 awnings and three white weapons seized during the operation in the Meiggs neighborhood, taken over by street vendors who do not have permits.
Two of the weapons found they are a machete and a rapier.
It was in the middle of the operation on Friday that the merchants spoke with the police, with the aim of postponing the eviction.
In the instance, one of the street vendors indicated that “Unfortunately we are going to be bold. We don’t want to come to that. Let us get things out today and we’ll talk again tomorrow.”