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Wuxi swoops on newspaper kiosks

AUTHORITIES in Wuxi, in eastern China's Jiangsu Province, have demolished more than 500 newspaper kiosks in the city.

Officials from the urban management bureau in Wuxi began demolishing the kiosks three days ago, according to Xinmin.cn, even though most of the kiosk owners had bought their kiosks from the bureau or paid it tens of thousands of yuan annually.

There were no hearings before the decision on the demolition program was taken which might violate administrative law, the report said.

From Monday residents have had nowhere to buy newspapers or magazines.

The post office and the Wuxi Daily Group have stopped delivering newspapers and magazines to the kiosks.

Chen Bing, a laid-off worker, has lost his booth which he rented from Wuxi Post and which earned him about 2,000 yuan (US$293) a month.

It was his only income. Chen used to pay the post office 13,000 yuan annually and had put down 20,000 yuan as a deposit.

Wuxi used to have 1,889 kiosks, of which 1,241 sold newspapers, magazines, ice cream and groceries or offered small repairs.

The owners and operators are mostly poor or unemployed.

Feng Moying ran a locksmith's kiosk at Ronghu Road, Beitang District and earned 2,000 yuan a month.

Her husband was confined to bed because of a stroke and her son was studying in a school in Hubei Province.

Feng was the family breadwinner, but her kiosk was taken away by urban management officials yesterday morning.

Feng had bought the kiosk from urban management authority in 2002 and spent 4,500 yuan on it. Officials told her she would be allowed to open a temporary booth which would not be seized.



 

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