Eindhoven mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem wants to reintroduce a ban on begging. He wants to stop the begging gangs that are active in the city centre.
For some time now, the municipality has been receiving complaints from business owners and visitors to the centre about the beggars. According to Dijsselbloem, these are people who come from outside the city. “They are organised gangs. A van drops people off in the morning. Then they sit on the street with signs, all with the same text. And at the end of the day, they all have to turn in their money and are driven out of town again in a van,” the mayor says. “We just can’t allow this anymore.”
Ban
John Jorritsma, the predecessor to Dijsselbloem, came up with a ban on begging in 2020, to reduce the nuisance in the centre. That ban was scrapped after a year at the insistence of the city council, in part because hardly any fines were issued and some beggars would suffer as a result of the measure. Dijsselbloem now wants to reintroduce the ban, because there have been many signs of nuisance and begging gangs recently.
East European homeless people
The mayor concludes that in addition to beggars, East European homeless people are also creating a nuisance in the centre. “This has increased significantly over the past six months. Some homeless people are drunk and harrass people. They walk into the supermarket, pull bottles of alcohol from the shelves, and leave again. They don’t let anyone stop them.”
Measures
Dijsselbloem therefore wants additional measures. “The East European homeless people do not have the same access to shelters as the Dutch homeless. We are therefore going to make room for extra winter shelter for these people. The condition is that there is guidance. They eventually have to get back to work and otherwise, they have to go back home. Lingering around the city is not an option.”
The mayor informed that a specific group of Eastern European homeless is being watched extra closely. “There is a group of notorious troublemakers who also give the rest of the group a bad name. They intimidate residents and social workers. They forfeit any possibility of help or support. For this group we are strict.”
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta. She also gives online INBURGERING lessons.
