Renting street sidewalks at exorbitant amounts... Houthi looting affects sidewalk vendors in Sana'a
English - Tuesday 31 May 2022 الساعة 06:09 pm
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:
The terrorist Houthi militia launched a new tax campaign targeting stall owners and street vendors in a number of Sanaa streets under its control.
Local sources told NewsYemen that the Houthi militia launched a new campaign against the owners of the stalls and street vendors in Hayel Street, which extends from the beginning of the Hayel intersection with Al-Zubayri Street to the 20th Street round, in addition to the 20th round to the intersection of Al-Raqas with Hayel, as part of its organized and systematic operations by restricting them and removing their stands and their sources of livelihood, with the aim of blackmailing them and forcing them to pay large sums of money in exchange for allowing them to return to their businesses at a later time.
The campaign launched by the militias, last Saturday, through the employees of the “Municipality” Works Office in the Moin district and the group’s gunmen on Hayel Street, days after a similar campaign in Jamal Street in the Tahrir District, which includes all the streets and markets of Sana’a, especially the commercial ones.
The sources pointed out that the office and the gunmen did not give the ruggers and street vendors the appropriate time to transfer their goods and exhibits, which were destroyed and confiscated a large number of them by force, under the pretext of speeding up the implementation of the alleged measures aimed at forcing the owners of the stalls and street vendors to rent any space for them in (meters) on a monthly basis in exorbitant amounts.
The sources quoted the impressions of the owners of the stalls and street vendors, who expressed their deep discontent and resentment as a result of taking such unfair measures by the local authorities and the Works Office, under the directives of the militia leadership in the Capital Municipality, in light of a difficult economic and living situation.
Many employees in Sana’a and areas under the control of the Houthis resorted to the profession of small business by establishing small commercial stands and buying and selling through them as the only source of livelihood to support their families after they suffered and were stranded as a result of the militias confiscating their salaries about seven years ago and in light of the lack of job opportunities and the lack of alternative provision the appropriate.
The owners of stalls and vendors in Sanaa, which is under the control of the Houthis, suffer from the restrictions and the increase in the levies imposed by the militias on them recently, which prompted some of them to leave this profession and search for another job away from the continuous blackmail they have been subjected to for eight years.
Since the Houthi militia took control of Sanaa on September 21, 2014, the militias have imposed illegal levies and royalties on shop owners, various commercial companies, and private banks, as well as carpets and street vendors, at a time when the majority of the population lives below the poverty line.
