Video of Yangon municipal worker destroying elderly vendor’s oranges prompts outrage
Fruit being sold at Bogyoke Aung San Market in Yangon. (Yis Ris)

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Footage of Yangon municipal workers smashing the oranges of an elderly vendor has been shared on Facebook 86,000 times so far and led to outrage about the way he was treated.

Thein Tun, 71, was selling fruit in tourist spot Bogyoke Aung San Market when Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC) employees said he was working in a no-vending zone, reported local news outlet The Irrawaddy.

Sat in a chair, Thein Tun could then do nothing but watch as one of the workers destroyed his two boxes of oranges with an axe before stamping and hitting the boxes themselves.

At one point, Thein Tun collects an orange rolling away from the box and passes it back to the YCDC employee, who smacks it with the back of his axe. Two older employees sit on a bench nearby, giving instructions.

The Irrawaddy tracked down Thein Tun to his small dwelling in a slum in Hlaing Thar Yar, an industrial township in northwest Yangon.

He has sold fruit in the market for half a century, providing for his family of five with the help of his eldest daughter. One of his daughters is disabled from birth and his son is disabled from a fall down stairs, reported the news outlet.

Unsurprisingly Myanmar Facebook users have reacted strongly to the video.

"Your parents didn't make a living selling fruit, of course you wouldn't have empathy," wrote one user.

"Watching this makes me want to punch them," wrote another. "Disgraceful YCDC."