Street vendors from across New York City rallied at Union Square to demand passage of the Street Vendor Reform Platform. Currently thousands of small businesses are forced to operate in a shadow economy as they wait years to receive vending permits, all while facing fines of up to $1,000 and experiencing harassment and property confiscation. Democracy Now! was at Thursday’s rally.

Cleotilde Juárez: “My name is Cleotilde Juárez. I’m a street vendor in Queens, New York. … I sell Mexican food. We’re here to demand that the City Council pass a reform of the street vending rules. We’re tired of being criminalized. Every week there’s a new video on social media showing police going after people, their families. We’re thousands of parents, many of them single mothers who don’t have other sources of income for their families than working in the streets. As you can see, we’re not criminals. We’re working people who want to be part of the economy of this country. We are the foundation of New York’s economy.”