LHomeless people are no longer welcome in the city center of Amiens (Somme). Mayor Brigitte Fouré (UDI) signed a decree on Thursday April 25 prohibiting begging in certain sectors, reports Le Courrier Picard relayed by La Voix du Nord. The measurement is 1er May until August 30 inclusive, Tuesday to Saturday, between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., in just under 30 streets and squares in the city center.
According to the town hall, this order follows complaints from traders. “Begging in the streets of the city center of Amiens, near shops, in a continuous and static manner, constitutes an abusive occupation of the public domain likely to cause disturbances to public order by generating crowds sometimes with alcoholism,” describes the decree.
Fear of housing Parisian homeless people
But according to Release, the municipality of Amiens says it fears a massive arrival of homeless people chased out of Paris during the Olympic Games. The mayor of Orléans complained a few weeks ago of having seen whole busloads of homeless and undocumented immigrants arrive in his city, without him being warned. Temporary accommodation for migrants was created by the government in ten regions last year to reduce the presence of homeless people in Paris, Le Monde revealed. An examination of their administrative situation is then supposed to be carried out. The government denied having increased transfers in the run-up to the Olympics.
CONTESTATION
At the beginning of April, in Amiens, around a hundred people gathered in front of the town hall to contest the proposed ban on begging. The Human Rights League had announced that it would take legal action in the event of enforcement. Such decrees have already been considered illegal by the Council of State in Tours, Bayonne and Saint-Étienne in recent years.
