Episode date: Length: 1 min 26 s
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Damascus has a market with an odd name: Souq al-Haramiyeh, "the thieves' market". The Mukhtar asked the sellers why, and what they sell.
The short answer
Souq al-Haramiyeh in Damascus is a market for cheap used goods: clothes, small radios, watches and old items. Sellers say the name comes from buying things for almost nothing, but they reject it and call it Souq al-Darawish, "the market of the poor", because the seller feeds his family and the buyer looks for the cheapest.
One seller said: "we buy for dirt cheap and sell for dirt cheap". The name comes from the low prices, not from stolen goods, they say.
What is sold there?
Used goods: clothes, scrap, small radios, watches and old pieces loved by collectors.
What do sellers say about the name?
The market rejects the name. Sellers call it Souq al-Darawish, "the market of the poor", because the seller feeds his family and the buyer seeks the cheapest. "We sit here to earn a living, not to steal," one said.
Questions people ask
Why is it called the thieves' market?
Sellers say the name comes from the very low prices, not from stolen goods.
What does Souq al-Haramiyeh sell?
Cheap used goods: clothes, scrap, small radios, watches and old items.
What is its other name?
Its sellers call it Souq al-Darawish, the market of the poor.
We ask sellers in the market and record every price with its date, in US dollars and new Syrian pounds. How we work
The Mukhtar Al Souq team: produced by Ahmad Nahas (the show on his site) · written by Ahmad Nahas, Mazen Shbib, Ranim Shabani and Dania Halbouni · edited by Abdulrahman Al-Nassar and Abdulrahman Mulla · graphics by Wael Fayyad
The truth from the market, for the people