Until last week, Corona Plaza in Queens was bustling: taqueros flipping fresh tortillas and vendors hawking Central American crafts over a soundtrack of cumbia and train traffic. There were produce stands, live bands and surging crowds, all in a public square that was named one of the 100 best places to eat in the city. But last Thursday and Friday, sanitation workers swept through the plaza, removing several stalls and threatening to penalize vendors who did not have a city permit to operate — nearly all of the more than 80 who regularly work there. In the days since, the grilled-meat stands and jugs of agua fresca have been replaced with protest signs. A spokesman for the Sanitation Department said removing the unpermitted vendors was necessary because the plaza had become so crowded that it was impassable, “with dirty conditions, with semi-permanent structures bolted into the ground, illegal vending right in front of storefronts.”

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Organizations: Corona, hawking, Sanitation Department Locations: Corona Plaza, Queens, American, New York