Regulating Street Vendors in Tehran After Market Traders' 'Threat'

Tehran municipal officers, at the request of some market traders, have implemented a 'regulation' plan to prevent street vending in the Grand Bazaar area. This plan began on Saturday morning (December 7) with the cooperation of the Tehran municipality's emergency and protection unit, the police, and the city guard company. Abad Maleki, the mayor of Tehran's District 12, told the IRNA news agency that the 'regulation of street vendors and vendors' plan was initiated at the request of 'citizens and market traders.' He added that this action is one of the Tehran municipality's projects aimed at 'urban discipline' and is intended to address the phenomenon of 'vending on sidewalks and around the Tehran market area, which creates problems for residents.' According to Mehr news agency, from the early hours of Saturday, instead of the street vendors who had suddenly increased 'tenfold' in recent weeks, '200 special unit officers were patrolling from the 15 Khordad metro station to Nasser Khosrow Street.' The area between the 15 Khordad metro station and Nasser Khosrow Street was a 'pedestrian walkway' dominated by street vendors, with over 1,000 people setting up stalls in this area. As reported by Mehr, in the past two to three weeks, the number of street vendors in the Grand Bazaar of Tehran had increased to the point that even surrounding parks were not spared from their presence. Market traders had 'threatened' action, prompting the municipality to intervene. Behzad Yaqoubi, a member of the Tehran market trusteeship, reported on December 1 that traders were dissatisfied with the extensive activities of street vendors. He noted that 'minor tensions' had arisen over this issue in the market and that some traders and trustees had even considered not opening their shops in protest. Yaqoubi also deemed the traders' dissatisfaction with the 'disruption' of their business and the disorder in the market area as 'justified' and valid. On the same day, he mentioned that two meetings were held at the office of the urban deputy of District 12 municipality and the Tehran City Council regarding the implementation of the 'regulation of street vendors' plan in the near future. Mehr news agency also reported that the market remains very powerful; so influential that if it threatens to close, both the municipality and the city council will intervene to resolve the issue. According to the news agency, the publication of a post on social media about the shutdown of some market stalls that were dissatisfied with their partnership with these street vendors prompted the municipality and the Tehran City Council to decisively implement the street vendor regulation plan. Street vendors claim that the 'inability' of municipal officers to control the market has led to an influx of vendors from other parts of Tehran to this area, creating disorder. Traders also blame the municipality and the Tehran City Council for this situation, stating that they have even written letters to the parliament and the General Inspection Organization in protest of the market's disorder. One trader told ISNA news agency that they have repeatedly written to the city council and municipality, but 'Tehran has no owner.' He added, 'Municipal officers patrol the market streets from morning until 11 AM and sometimes prevent street vendors from operating, but after that, they leave on the pretext that they have no insurance and may be attacked by vendors with knives and daggers, and after that, the vendors roam in these areas to the extent that even we traders cannot enter our own shops and malls.' He also mentioned that customers, especially women, feel unsafe entering the market and malls as they have to pass through street vendors. Street vendors who were not allowed to set up on Saturday protested against the municipal officers and police preventing their activities. Some of them told ISNA and Mehr news agencies that 'for each piece of space where we vend, we have to pay between 30,000 to 50,000 tomans daily to some municipal officers.' One vendor told ISNA that 'the pricing of spaces in the 15 Khordad market varies, so that for vending near the metro and Sabzeh Meydan, we have to pay higher amounts from 70,000 to 100,000 tomans, and it raises the question that despite paying, do we still have to leave this area?' Another vendor stated, 'Even if my corpse is taken away from here, I will not leave. We are told to vend in other places, but do those other spaces have the market's vibrancy?' A female vendor also said, 'This place was suitable for street vendors and had only a few vendors, but for some time now, due to the market's recession, even shopkeepers have been giving their goods to their apprentices to vend on the street, and now everything has fallen on the street vendors, and is it good for us to go steal and sell drugs instead of earning a lawful living?' Another female vendor stated, 'Even if the municipality provides another place for us, I will not budge from here. The shopkeepers in this market charge a lot for their goods, but we sell at lower prices, and it is natural that people buy from us.' Abad Maleki, the mayor of District 12 of Tehran, mentioned that one phase of the 'regulation of street vendors' plan includes the implementation of two 'night markets' for the streets surrounding the market and 'day markets' in various areas of Tehran. According to him, interested street vendors must register for this plan by visiting the second district of the District 12 municipality at Imam Khomeini Square to be able to operate in designated areas with a specific schedule for their livelihood. Maleki added, 'Street vending must be conducted in a specific place and time,' and for this reason, locations on Sooraserafiel Street are designated for a day market and the Parvaneh parking lot on Jomhouri Street for street vendors' activities on Fridays. Reza Ghadimi, the CEO of the Tehran City Jobs Organization, also told the IRIB news agency, 'We have 39 weekly day markets for vendors, and in the new plan, 11 more day markets and two additional night markets will be established, operating from 5 PM to 11 PM.' He added, '600 street vendors were active in the market area, who will operate in the night markets in Bab-e Homayoun and the pedestrian walkway of 17 Shahrivar starting Tuesday evening.' The contradictory statements of Ghalibaf and Maleki regarding the vendors' claims of paying money to municipal officers for vending have received different reactions. While Maleki implicitly confirmed the vendors' statements, mentioning 'violations and negligence' by some municipal officers, Ghalibaf denied any receipt of money from the vendors. The mayor of Tehran stated, 'Apparently, these vendors have formed a structure over time and exchanged money among themselves.' However, Ghalibaf added, 'It is possible that a contractor or even individuals who were not contractors created a process to receive money from the vendors, which will be definitively controlled with the precise identification we have conducted in the market area in cooperation with the police.' Meanwhile, Maleki, in response to some vendors' criticisms regarding paying 'protection money' to municipal officers, stated, 'Some officers had violations and did not confront the vendors, and we have dealt with the errant officers, and some of them have had their contracts terminated.' He also responded to the question of why the number of vendors had increased in recent weeks, stating, 'Due to the termination of the contract with the previous contractor following the officers' violations, unfortunately, a delay occurred in selecting a new contractor, which the vendors also took advantage of.' The mayor of Tehran denies the vendors' statements. On the other hand, a reporter from Mehr news agency responded to his statements by writing, 'Denying the statements of all vendors and the mayor of the district certainly cannot obscure the truth.'