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Translation of the Article Written by Gocha Bakhia Posted on the Web Site - Independent Web Edition ECHO Three thousand street
vendors, many of them elderly Internally Displaced Persons
from Abkhazia (the conflict zone in the north-west of the
The elderly Internally Displaced Persons from Abkhazia were among the
several thousand demonstrators demanding the authorities not to outlaw
street vending outside the central market in Georgia's capital city -
Tbilisi. The arguments of the authorities that the street vending in the
center of the capital deteriorates its architectural appearance and
causes littering are justified. However, it should not be neglected
that the majority of the demonstrators are the elderly Internally
Displaced Persons, the victims of the war. Prohibiting street vending
will deprive them of their only small source of income, which in many
cases, should support several family members. The authorities
promised they will find alternative ways to solve the problem.
However, poverty among the Internally Displaced Persons is deeply
rooted, socially sensitive and unlikely to be resolved in near future.
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