This is the view of president of the Congress of Trade Unions and Staff Associations of Barbados (CTUSAB), Sir Roy Trotman.

He said this action to demolish the stalls last Wednesday was "reminiscent of [Robert] Mugabe's treatment of the informal sector workers in Harare, [Zimbabwe]".

In a Press statement issued yesterday afternoon, the CTUSAB head pointed out that several vendors had conducted their business at Cheapside for many years and had no alternative source of income. He said the action of cutting off their livelihood "was nothing short of bulldozing them into poverty and deprivation".

"Sir Roy dismissed as totally unacceptable the efforts of the Minister of Home Affairs, [Mia Mottley] to excuse herself and her administration," the release stated.

It further stated that it was CTUSAB's considered opinion that Government should also compensate the vendors at the levels of their average daily earnings for every day they are inconvenienced as a result of Government's destruction of their workplaces.

A midnight clean-up operation on Wednesday by the Sanitation Service Authority (SSA) saw every single stall behind the market demolished.

President of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN), Alister Alexander, met with officials from the Barbados Tourism Investment Inc. (BTII) and called on Attorney-General Mia Mottley for an explanation for the action.

On Thursday, Mottley issued a formal public apology via Voice of Barbados' popular afternoon call-in programme Down To Brass Tacks. She said she was "horrified" and termed the action "callous" and "really regrettable".