LILONGWE, Jan 25, 2012 (IPS) - A campaign to stop people buying merchandise from street vendors is gaining momentum in Malawi's main cities of Lilongwe, Blantyre and Mzuzu after the small-scale traders went on a rampage undressing women and girls wearing trousers, leggings, shorts and mini-skirts.

Street vendors occupy the pavements and street corners in the busiest parts of the country's major cities and towns. Here they sell everything from clothing to electronic items to food and groceries. But when the vendors in Lilongwe began rioting last week in protest against their forced removal by the local city council, things took a turn for the worse as vendors began stripping women and physically assaulting them.

Dubbed "lero nkugule, mawa undivule," which is vernacular Chichewa and translates into "today I buy from you, tomorrow you undress me", the campaign was initiated on Jan. 18, the day after the assaults. Women activists want to use the campaign to teach the vendors a lesson on respecting women, according to Seodi White, executive director of the influential women rights organisation, Women in Law in Southern Africa-Malawi.