Battle over Buenos Aires’ squeegee men

Prohibition or legalization — that's the debate in Buenos Aires over the men who squeegee windshields of stopped cars.

A committee in the city legislature is looking at a bill to ban squeegee men and "parking thugs" — who charge drivers to park their cars in the downtown area — from the streets, the Buenos Aires Herald reports.

The bill was sent to the legislature a year and a half ago, but never made it through after a heated floor debate.

Critics of the proposal want to regulate the activities, rather than prohibit them. The bill would punish offenders with fines or jail time.

The government is preparing to pass a number of bills over the coming months, including ones that allow the police to use X-26 taser guns and that create a genetic database of all people involved in criminal activity, the newspaper reported.

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