January 8: The street vendors of Nepal are preparing to organize a mass protest across Kathmandu on Monday against the Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC)’s “clean-up” operation that has threatened their livelihood.

Nepal Union of Street Traders (NEST) said they are against Mayor Balendra Shah’s move to remove the street vendors without making an alternative arrangements for them.

Issuing a statement on Saturday, the union said that the street vendors of Kathmandu will be organizing the mass protest on January 9 seeking access to public space and their right to work.

According to the statement, it will be mobilizing its members across Kathmandu for a mass protest to push back against the evictions and harassment affecting 34,000 street vendors in the city who have been suffering for months from a “clean-up” operation by Mayor Balendra Shah.

The global alliance of street vendors, StreetNet International, has also supported the move of NEST, urging workers’ organizations across the world to stand in solidarity with NEST and defend their right to work and their right to the city.

StreetNet International in a statement said that the KMC has adopted discriminatory urban policies against the working poor.

 The international organization noted that street vendors in Kathmandu have been banned from their usual places of business and are unable to work for months. This has resulted in loss of incomes and livelihoods, StreetNet International said.

The statement further said that Human Rights Watch has documented the assault on the rights of the urban poor taking place in Kathmandu, which is threatening up to 34,000 vendors in the city, many of whom are women who have no other alternative source of income or employment.

The main objective of the protest is to demand the authorities to respect the right to work freely and to occupy public spaces as citizens.