Nearly 300 Thai police commandos led by the Nakhon Pathom provincial governor yesterday evicted 500 street vendors from the town's fresh food market in Thailand.

The eviction occurred amid many protests from the street vendors, including tearful pleas from a 5-year-old girl who begged the Thai authorities for a little street corner so that her mother could make a living. Please, please spare my mother, we have no where else to go, said the little Thai girl.

Thailand's Provincial Governor Nawin Khanthahiran ignored the little Thai girl and ordered his commandos to remove all the stalls from the streets.

After the area was cleared, the authorities cut off the water and electricity to the area to prevent the vendors from returning.

Protesting vendors said yesterday's forced eviction was cruel and unfair. For as long as many of us can remember, our grandparents have passed on the stalls to our parents before it was our turn to inherit the family business, said noodle vendor Sumitra Songkhrosuk, 45. We have been here for generations and now the provincial governor declares our presence an eyesore.

Vendor Suwanne Srisuk, 59, said the governor wanted the vendors to move to a private market, although he had failed to address their grievances on relocation costs and high fees at the new site.