San Diego Street Vendor Gets Viral Support After Being Harassed by Group of Women

A video is making its rounds on social media of a Latine street vendor in San Diego experiencing harassment by a group of women who stopped at his cart. As of Tuesday afternoon (February 21), the video has received 5.7 million views.

Street vendor Andrés Argüelles Álvarez had set up his cart on the San Diego State University (SDSU) campus when the incident occurred. In the video, the women are standing in front of the cart when one of them curses at him about his prices.

“You charge me $7, I’m going to f— you over,” she says. Two other women take food from his grill and start eating and throwing it while the others laugh. Álvarez asks them to stop.

In an interview with Telemundo, Álvarez explained what the women did and why he believed they acted in such a disrespectful way. “They grabbed my bacon with their hand, all my vegetables, everything I use,” he said. “They realized that I was Mexican, that I didn’t speak English very well, and they thought, ‘Ah, we can attack him.’”

Riley Kaufman, the SDSU student who recorded and released the video on TikTok, released a follow-up message about the incident. “I do not support their actions, behaviors, attitude, any of it whatsoever,” she said. “As much as I wanted to put my hands on them… I’d much rather just show the world how these girls go out in public and act then… get myself in trouble.”

We urge anyone with information about the incident and who can confirm identities of anyone who was involved to share details as soon as possible with SDSU’s Center for Student Rights and Responsibilities via the online reporting form: https://t.co/ZZ8Hd4VNwO pic.twitter.com/mnThdJPc0d

— San Diego State University (@SDSU) February 14, 2023

SDSU issued a statement that also urged the public to come forward to help identify the women in the video. “The behavior toward the food vendor is unacceptable and counter to expectations of human dignity,” SDSU posted on social media. “No person should be treated with this level of disrespect.”

Many online are also speaking out against the group of women, expressing their support for the vendor. There was also an event reportedly organized by actvisity Alex Enamorado, in which thousands of community members came out to support Argüelles Álvarez’s business.