About 100 vendors at Snoeung Market in Battambang province’s Banan district have resolved to ignore today’s relocation deadline and instead travel to Battambang town to protest in front of provincial headquarters, a vendor representative said Thursday.

“If we still haven’t heard from district officials, we will take taxis to the provincial offices to ask for help,” Bun Thet said.

The vendors were notified by authorities on Wednesday that they would need to move from their current location because the market was interfering with a proposed road upgrade.

District authorities have suggested that the vendors pay between US$800 and $1,000 to set up shop in a market about 200 metres away, but the vendors have said they cannot afford the new stalls.

Banan district Governor Sreng Sreang on Thursday reiterated officials’ position that the market would interfere with the road upgrade.

“The upgrade will impact all of the land on which the old market is built,” he said.