Clothing Seized Late in the morning, agents seized the merchandise of a clothing vendor whose husband, they said, owed $24,000 in back sales tax.

"Martial law has had a drastic effect on our business," said a clothing vendor who awoke from an afternoon nap in front of his stall.

"The foreigners wear shorts," said Mr. Hassan, the clothing vendor, "but to us they look childish."

He recalled up to 200 food and clothing vendors in the five buildings during the market's heyday, which he said lasted into the 1960's.

Amiruddin, 38, a clothing vendor, was trying to find his wife and three children, whom he has already searched for desperately in the neighborhood where he once lived.

Msalam once worked as a clothing vendor.

Column after column of stories about the forthcoming film and how clothing vendors are eager to cash in on the next big merchandising orgy after "Batman."

"I stayed up the entire night talking with friends and neighbors about what happened," said Ghaith Qassim, 35, a clothing vendor at a funeral.

Many clothing vendors refer to 'short shorts' as having an inseam of four inches or less.

For decades, clothing vendors have routinely held back the most fashionable clothes from far-away discount chains, first supplying them to department stores and specialty clothing chains.