A new chapter in the war between the Torrevieja authorities and the ‘top manta’ illegal street traders was unveiled on Thursday, with the erection of street signage warning members of the public that the purchase of products from such sellers is punishable by a fine of 200 euros.
The signs have been installed along much of the seafront, up and down the Juan Aparicio promenade, although initial indications are that few people are taking any real notice.
The signs are a new initiative that the Council has undertaken to try to tackle a phenomenon that has been resisting all other deterrents for many years now, and that has simply ignored all other measures introduced by the town hall.
The poster says. “The purchase or acquisition in public spaces of food, drinks and other products from unauthorised street vending is prohibited.” A similar message has also been published on the council’s social networks.
For the moment only a small handful of signs are being displayed although the Council’s intention is to erect many more at all points along the promenade that are frequented by the ‘manteros’.
In recent years the presence of such traders, far from diminishing, is increasing. Mainly carried out by Senegalese immigrants, areas such as those adjacent to the monument to the Man of the Sea are a continuous series of white sheets spread across the ground and the atmosphere increasingly resembles that of a bazaar or a souk rather than that of a leisure area.
Moreover, any police presence, seems to have little effect on those who sell these counterfeit products with officers observing from a distance as illegal sales continues without impediment. Although sellers would usually pick up their belongings and hide when they see the agents walking around, once the uniformed officers withdraw the ‘manteros’ quickly notify each other and return to their former pitches.
During the first term of the current mayor, Eduardo Dolón (2011-2015), an attempt was made to pursue these traders in a more forceful manner but the intervention led to street fights between vendors and agents as well as protests by the Senegalese themselves in front of the courts. With the emphasis not to buy such illegal goods now being placed on the purchaser the council is clearly hoping that their actions will lead to a decrease in the presence of such street traders.
