The Mayor of Antwerp Bart De Wever (Flemish nationalist) has called for the reintroduction of legislation on vagrancy. The previous vagrancy law that banned begging and living on the streets was revoked 30 years. Mr De Wever believes that new legislation is required to tackle the issue of vagrancy within the context of today’s society. This would better enable the authorities to tackle nuisance issues such in areas such as on Antwerp’s Groenplaats.
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Mayor of Antwerp calls for new law on vagrancy
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Mr De Wever launched the idea of a new vagrancy law during a committee meeting of Antwerp City Council on Monday evening. He did so in response to a question from councillor Sam Van Rooy of the far-right Vlaams Belang on the issue of nuisance caused by homeless people on the Groenplaats.
Mr De Wever said that "There are 4 easily accessible daycare centres that are financed by the city. There are also three night shelters and teams on the ground that actively encourage people to go to them. However, we see that there is a group that doesn’t want to be help and their behaviour becomes worse due to increased use of alcohol and drugs”.
"I would like the federal authorities to look again at legislation on vagrancy. In my personal opinion, the abolition of the vagrancy law was a mistake and we need a contemporary version of this law."
“I am not saying that the vagrants’ colony in Wortel should reopen, but a contemporary variant of this could help us considerably in dealing with the most problematic cases. and improve their quality of life. This would also prevent incurring costs for law enforcement agencies and the emergency services”,Mr De Wever said.
Alcohol ban on the Groenplaats
Mr De Wever also said that initial figures show that nuisance issues on the Groenplaats have diminished since the kiosk there was removed at the end of last month. However, it is still too early to draw any conclusions.
The city authorities are also examining the feasibility of banning alcohol from the Groenplaats. The police say that the lion’s share of the issues on the Groenplaats are caused by around 10 people, most of whom homeless people with drink problems that refuse to be helped.