Police quarreled with straw vendors yesterday morning as they attempted to set up their wares on Prince George Dock, several of the vendors told The Nassau Guardian.
One vendor, who gave his name as only G. Clarke, said with six cruise ships in port the vendors saw an opportunity to make money they would otherwise lose. The strong winds of Hurricane Irene tore through the temporary straw market the vendors had been using for ten years, rendering it unusable.
Clarke said when vendors began to set up police ordered them to pack up and vacate the area.
Officer in charge of the Tourism Police Unit, Assistant Superintendent of Police Leamond Deleveaux, said police were instructed to allow the vendors to set up. However, he would not say what police initially did when vendors attempted to set up, before the instruction to allow them to set up came down from the upper echelon of the police force.
Minister of Social Services Loretta Butler-Turner said she immediately contacted Minister of Tourism Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace, who agreed that the vendors should be allowed to set up along the wharf.
