Traders and security officers clash in downtown Warsaw (Roundup)

Jul 21, 2009, 15:24 GMT

Warsaw - More than 30 people were injured when traders and security officers clashed in downtown Warsaw on Tuesday over the planned closure of a Polish market to make way for a metro line.

Police reported an additional 12 injured security officers, broadcaster TVN 24 reported.

A bailiff tried to enter the bazaar-style shopping centre on Tuesday morning, but was pushed back when teargas filled the entrance. Fifteen people were arrested, police told TVN 24.

The traders had barricaded themselves in overnight, armed with teargas, the Polish Press Agency reported. They fought back with fire extinguishers when security officers tried to enter the complex.

The bailiff made it inside the building as the clash stretched into a seventh hour. Football hooligans threw rocks at the facility as a crowd formed at a nearby park.

The traders and their supporters momentarily blocked traffic on a main street running through the heart of the city.

But a thick barrier of officers managed to secure the facility by early evening as the bailiff concluded work inside.

Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz told a press conference that the traders have been occupying the market illegally since January. The city had made numerous offers to secure them another loaction, she added.

The traders say closing the hall puts 2,000 out of work in a time of financial crisis. The city has offered another location, but the traders want to remain downtown until new premises are ready in 2012.

City officials say the space is needed to launch work next year on a second metro line and that the area will later house an art museum.

Makeshift market stands in that part of downtown appeared in the 1990s and quickly became a symbol of capitalism after decades of communist rule.

A facility to house the traders was erected in 2001, and included some 700 stands that sold bargain electronics, cheap clothing and fastfood.