Authorities ran a special operation to combat obstruction from fruit traders in Yau Ma Tei
Police and government officials mounted a joint operation around Yau Ma Tei fruit market last night to combat “street obstructions” from wholesale fruit traders.
Officers the Yau Ma Tei Divisional Task Force, Patrol Team and Police Tactical Unit, together with officers from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD), visited Waterloo Road, Shanghai Street and Ferry Street, giving 20 parking tickets and issuing 29 fixed penalty notices for street obstruction.
Market operations have long spilled out onto public streets, with long-running feuds between shop owners, traders and residents.
But authorities tend to give local traders a pass. Nearby Canton Road at Tung Kun Street, for example has been occupied as a ful-time warehouse and truck park for many years. It is one of the few public through-roads Google Streetview has been unable to document: one blue container truck blocking Canton Road can be seen from Tung Kun Street on Google Street View as long ago as visual street view records began in Asia in 2009.
Police said they will continue to cooperate with FEHD to combat street obstruction and improve the community environment to protect the safety and rights of pedestrians and road users.
This stretch of Canton Road has been fully occupied by traders since at least 2009