Vendors Clash At Huge Market

Merchants brawled with street vendors at the capital’s sprawling Tepito market, injuring at least 26, a news agency said Thursday.

The clash began Wednesday night when licensed vendors at stalls in the Granaditas shoe market inside Tepito, which stretches for dozens of blocks, tried to force out the street vendors, the official Notimex news agency said.

The fight grew to more than 300 people, wielding pipes and sticks and throwing rocks and bottles, Notimex said.

There were reports of gunshots fired, but no reports of gunshot wounds.

Clashes between permanent and street vendors, common in Mexico, have become more frequent during the nation’s recession.