2000 market traders starved then evicted in Lima, Peru

[Gerrard Winstanley]

Police evict at least 2,000 vendors squatting in Peru market 
Published: 05.29.2007
http://www.azstarnet.com/news/185095
 
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Police firing tear gas on Monday forced out at least 
2,000 vendors who had illegally occupied a market in eastern Lima, 
ending a nearly five-year standoff between the city government and the 
vendors. 
Television images showed some vendors throwing bottles at officers who 
fired back tear gas. But most peacefully left the Santa Anita market, 
a dusty 200-acre piece of land where vendors sold fruit, meat and 
vegetables. 
Officials had prepared for a violent clash with the vendors, since 
many had built their homes on the lot and vowed to die before being 
removed. 
The land belongs to a company owned by Lima's municipal government. It 
had planned to open its own wholesale market on the lot, but squatters 
arrived in 2002 and refused to leave. 
There had been about 6,000 vendors on the lot, but many left last week 
after electricity and water to the market was cut off. 
Squatting in Peru's sprawling capital is common. Some of Lima's most 
populous slums began with so-called "invasions," during which entire 
communities moved overnight to Lima's sandy slopes.