African street-sellers protest over threat of prison sentences for 'merely trying to survive'
Friday, November 8, 2013 @ 8:53 PM
OVER 100 'looky looky' men staged a protest in Madrid outside the ministry of justice this week over a Penal Code reform which means their street-selling activities will now be considered a criminal offence.
Until now, it was classed as a civil offence and the sellers could be fined – and at the decision of some town councils, even customers who bought items from them – but it will henceforth mean a prison sentence of between six months and two years.
They carried banners which read, 'my street-selling is my bread and butter', and 'no human being is illegal', and chanted, “Trying to survive is not a crime.”
The sellers, usually sub-Saharan Africans and frequently Senegalese, say the Penal Code reform will 'aggravate their situation even more'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com