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endors at the Pasar Rumput traditional market in South Jakarta say sales have plunged after two days of wild street brawls on nearby Jl. Sultan Agung this weekend.

“The impact on us has been huge. The market has been quiet now. I used to sell 20 pairs of shoes a day, now it is down 50 percent,” Ujang, who owns a shoe stall at the market, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

Others said it might take a week for regular customers to calm down and start shopping again before the market could return to normal.

Another vendor, Nadia, who sold clothes at the market, said she hoped that police would tighten security in the area in the coming months, particularly in the run up to the start of Ramadhan, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan in August.

“We are at our busiest around Ramadhan time. We really wish that the situation here would be kept safe during the holy month so that our sales will not be disrupted,” Nadia said.

A riot broke out near the Pasar Rumput market on Saturday, when long-standing rivalry between residents of nearby Menteng Tenggulun subdistrict in Central Jakarta and Pasar Manggis in South Jakarta turned violent.

Police officers reportedly stood by and did not intervene as residents clashed for more than four hours on Saturday and again for two hours on Sunday, hurling bottles and rocks and threatening each other with machetes and wooden sticks.

Dozens of rioters were injured and the Pasar Rumput Transjakarta busway shelter was damaged in the violence.

The Pasar Rumput market, located between the feuding subdistricts’ residents, has been quiet since the brawl ended.

“They are obviously afraid to come here,” Ujang said.

Another vendor, Herman, said that the news of violence had deterred visitors from coming to the market.

“Customers from Depok and Bekasi would have heard the news and been scared of coming,” he said.

Herman, who has been working in the market for more than 20 years, said that fights between the two groups had been going on for a long time, although he was unclear as to how the dispute started.

“It’s just revenge after revenge. Sometimes a fight would be caused by teasing and mocking between the two groups after watching a Persija soccer game together,” he said, referring to Jakarta’s soccer team.

Herman said that the stores in the market and their owners had never been directly damaged by the riots.

“Now and then we get hit by the odd stray stone, but the market has never been targeted,” he said.

According to Herman, a police presence was the only way to prevent a reoccurrence of violence.

“If the police stop watching over the area, the chances are that the fights will start again,” he said.

Siti, who sells clothes in the market, said that she had heard rumors that another brawl would take place soon.

“Just yesterday, I had a customer who jokingly asked for a pair of fire-proof trousers. He said he needed them for the brawl. When I asked when, he said whenever the police are off-guard,” Siti said.

“We hope the police can be here all the time, 24 hours a day,” Siti added. (awd)