Around thirty people demonstrated near Namur train station on Monday in response to a call from several associations to protest against the city’s anti-begging bylaw. The protesters came from Liège, Charleroi and Brussels, in addition to Namur.
Since 7 July, an ordinance issued by the Namur authorities bans begging for a distance of 20 metres on either side of and inside shopping arcades. This measure, which will apply until 7 November, was motivated by the insecurity and unsanitary conditions that prevail in the area around the station.
For the demonstrators, who were already denouncing municipal anti-begging regulations as a whole, this decision is discriminatory and contrary to human rights.
“That some beggars behave badly is one thing, but we can’t make everyone pay the price,” said Ludwig Simon, founding member of Mendiants de l’humanité, which is supporting the demonstration organised jointly by the Syndicat des immenses, Syndicat autonome liégeois des sans-abri, and the ASBL Solidarités nouvelles. The action also received the support of the Réseau wallon de lutte contre la pauvreté (RWLP).
“Violence, harassment, public order disturbances, alcohol and drug consumption and dealing are already penalised under general police regulations. We need to stick to that,” Mr. Simon insisted.
“Here, we are displacing the problem rather than trying to solve it,” Olivier Vangoethem of the Walloon Anti-Poverty Network, RWLP, stressed. “This is pure repression. Some people are being checked several times a day, with financial penalties attached. What’s more, this order only applies to the summer period. In fact, the misery is being hidden from tourists in order to improve the city’s image, but that won’t make it disappear.”
The campaigners also believe that the ordinance is counter-productive since the gathering of beggars in the galleries made it easier to assist them. Without that, some homeless people would have disappeared off the radar, falling deeper into precariousness, the associations point out.
They suggest other solutions to ensure that the homeless people, who make up the majority of beggars, are better looked after. In Namur, these include setting up a low-risk consumption room and making a day shelter available to men living on the streets, as is the case for women.
The demonstrators also point out that Namur’s night shelters are overcrowded, as are the psychiatric asylums.
More generally, they call on politicians to review their copy in terms of housing and even abolish the status of cohabitant.
