The Govern supports street vendors after the latest clashes in Cambrils, Salou, and Roses

Several altercations in recent weeks have shown the problem of "top manta" in Catalonia. Illegal vendors have caused riots and attacks on the police in Salou, and a street vendor seriously stabbed a sanitation worker in Cambrils. This same week, images of a fight between street vendors in Roses have gone viral.

As a result of these events, Vox submitted an interpellation to the Govern in Parliament this Wednesday. In response to this group's presentation, the Minister of Business and Labor, Miquel Sàmper, defended the street vendors: "They're not criminals, they're victims."

PSC's government sees street vendors as "very vulnerable people" and "not as a problem." The minister said that the problem is the mafias that exploit them, and that alternatives must be offered to the street vendors to "strangle" the mafias. He also defended the mass regularization of immigrants for the benefit of businesses and the Catalan economy.

Vox denounces the "top manta"

The person in charge of presenting Vox's point of view was deputy Javier Ramírez. In his speech, he warned that the "proliferation of 'top manta' in Catalonia" is a problem that "affects residents and shopkeepers, coexistence, and the rule of law."

For Vox, "top manta" entails a systematic violation of legality and represents a direct attack on small businesses. In addition to being a threat to intellectual property, it is a source of public insecurity and a proliferation of human exploitation networks.

The deputy recalled that this is an "illegal activity" punished by article 164 of the penal code. He also asserted that "this is not an isolated incident but a structured network that operates with total impunity in public spaces." He recalled that Catalan police have identified 2,500 street vendors, who could be many more.

This generates, according to the data, a loss of €65 million per year in local commerce and €70 million in losses for the industry.

"While our self-employed and shopkeepers suffer suffocating tax pressure, they see how illegal sales are allowed right in front of their doors," he stated. Vox considers this "intolerable unfair competition." They complain that "the shopkeeper who pays high rent and is overwhelmed by taxes is forced to close while Generalitat favors illegal sales."

Source of insecurity

Vox has asked Govern what is the point of promoting artistic creation while tolerating piracy in the streets. They have also focused on insecurity. The deputy mentioned "attacks on police officers, fights between street vendors with machetes, robberies, and intimidation."

Vox denounces the "complacent and negligent attitude" of Generalitat, whom they accuse of "whitewashing illegality, eroding authority, and abandoning citizens." For Vox, "top manta" is "a public order and security problem, with implications for illegal immigration, organized crime, and loss of institutional sovereignty."

They have asked Govern "of the street vendors identified in the last five years, how many are illegal immigrants." They also ask "what studies does Generalitat have on the real economic damage caused by 'top manta' to legal commerce in Catalonia." Vox has questioned Govern "what measures will be taken to defend the merchants."

Govern defends the street vendors

Minister Sàmper has accused Vox of "addressing the 'top manta' problem to exploit it politically." For Govern, in the interpellation there was "a desire to criminalize very vulnerable people, stigmatize poverty, and fuel the discourse of fear."

He reproaches Vox for "talking about law but ignoring human rights." Sàmper described the street vendors as "people exploited by mafia networks," who "have come from hunger and war" and who "survive as best they can." That's why he said, "we're not talking about criminals but about victims."

The minister highlighted what Govern is doing to end the mafias, such as coordinating the different police forces to identify and pursue these networks. He also valued the inspections to try to regulate illegal sales, and the subsidies to reform commerce. Likewise, there are specific programs to protect markets affected by illegal sales.

Sàmper emphasized the need to offer "a legal alternative to street vendors." In this regard, he mentioned the ACOL program for the administrative and labor regulation of migrants.

Finally, he defended the mass regularization of immigrants, appealing to the benefit they bring to the Catalan economy. For him, the issue of street vendors "is not crime but desperation," and he defended "their integration."