Street vendors and representatives of the United Movement of Street Vendors (Muca) held a demonstration this Tuesday (15th) in front of the administrative headquarters of the Municipality of Rio de Janeiro, in the center of the city, to ask that Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD) fulfill promises made to the category during the electoral campaign.
Read more: Street carnival canceled: how are street vendors in Rio?
Street vendors, who asked to have their claims heard by representatives of the public power, also occupied the municipal Secretariat of Finance, which is headed by federal deputy Pedro Paulo (Dem).
“We announced the occupation and Secretary Pedro Paulo already knows that we are here. He wants us to talk to advisors, but we will only leave here today after talking to him or Eduardo Paes. We don’t want to talk to any other secretary” , said earlier the coordinator of Muca, Maria dos Camelôs.
This afternoon, the street vendors and Muca were received by representatives of the City of Rio for a meeting. The mandates of councilors Tarcísio Motta and Chico Alencar, both from Psol, participated in the act in the city center.
In early February, the City Hall of Rio announced that it will pay, in a single installment, an aid of R$ 500 to street vendors due to the cancellation of Carnival. Muca claims that the aid paid should be R$ 1,000 and that the public power needs to increase the number of workers served by the benefit.
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Muca also wants the City Hall to overturn decrees to remove street vendors from some areas of the city center on account of the Reviver Centro program, that the work boxes removed from Nelson Mandela Street, in Botafogo, and Gardênia, in Jacarepaguá, be replaced. on site. The street vendors want the City Hall to create public warehouses for workers’ goods.
The street vendors also ask for the Public Order Department (Seop) to withdraw from decisions on public policies for the category. Muca said in a statement that after the elections and during the years 2021 and early 2022 “the increase in repression against our category is already noticeable, which is going through one of the most difficult moments”.
“It’s easy to understand when we remember that the pandemic reduced the movement of people, but it also increased unemployment and made more people return to informal work. We make a profit. The income that guarantees the purchase of teaching material for our children’s school, the payment of debts and taxes”, says the movement.
Source: BdF Rio de Janeiro
Editing: Eduardo Miranda
