In Eindhoven it is forbidden to beg on the street. This was decided by a large majority of the municipal council. With the ban, city politics mainly wants to tackle the ‘begging gangs’ in the city centre.
Recently, the municipality has seen an increase in the number of beggars. They are often part of gangs. They are dropped off in the city in the morning with their placards and are picked up again in the evening. On Tuesday, eight parties voted in favour of a ban, mainly to combat these gangs. Opposition parties SP (socialist party), Volt, Forum voor Democratie (forum for democracy, FvD) and Partij voor de Dieren (party for the animals, PvdD) voted against.
Exploitation
SP councillor Jannie Visscher is one of the opponents. “With this ban, beggars who do not belong to these gangs are the victims”, the group believes. “In addition, victims of exploitation will also be fined”.
According to Mayor Jeroen Dijsselbloem, such a ban is necessary to investigate where the gangs come from. “The police can now only send people away and shift the problem”, he says. “This way the police can speak to people, collect information and investigate the gangs”.
Previous ban
In 2021, Mayor John Jorritsma also imposed a begging ban. This was scrapped again a year later, at the initiative of the SP and the Schreurs fraction. According to the parties, the ban excluded people who could not make it in society.
Complaints
Dijsselbloem expects more success with this ban. “The last time was during corona time. There were fewer shops open then and therefore less nuisance from beggars. But now we have already had more than 150 complaints about beggars in the first half of 2023”, he says.
The largest party, GroenLinks (green left party), had some doubts. “We want to welcome and support people”, party leader, Eva de Bruijn, says. “Prevention and enforcement must work together. We need to know how it will impact this group of people. But we have spoken to professionals and they say that a ban also makes it easier to help these people”. The coalition party ultimately agreed to the ban.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
