Pattaya-
For nearly a year ending in July 2017, Pattaya was at virtual war with street vendors who had worked beaches and shopping malls for decades. Heavy fines were exacted and there were repeated sweeps launched by municipal officers backed by soldiers.
The campaign worked, for a while. As is so often the case in Pattaya, big initiatives receive little follow up. However, peddlers who thought they could go back to their old ways found out the new boss in Pattaya has consistency as one of his biggest themes. Multiple Peddlers were rounded up on Beach Road during mid afternoon of February 15th and fined an undisclosed amount of Thai baht.
Deputy Mayor Bandit Kunnajukr inspected Beach Road and and next sent the city hall officers to roust and take into custody homeless people squatting under walkways or begging from mats on the sidewalk.
Homeless people with Thai citizenship taken into custody were sent to the Chonburi Protection Center for the Destitute. Several homeless people were found to not be Thai citizens and not have a legal visa to enter Thailand, primarily from Cambodia and Myanmar and were sent to immigration to process deportation.
Before calling it a day, Bandit also had officers measure plots being used by beach chair vendors, forcing those spreading out beyond their legal limits to move.
The city has stated they will continue to remove homeless people sleeping against Thai law on the beach and fine peddlers hawking wares on Beach Road.
