(dpa/NAN)
Homeless charities on Thursday slammed a local council leader’s plan to banish beggars from the streets before Prince Harry marries fiancee Meghan Markle in the English town of Windsor in May.
Earlier this month, Simon Dudley, the Conservative council leader of the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, had written to the local police commissioner to criticise their response to “anti-social behaviour, including aggressive begging and intimidation in Windsor.”
Dudley also vowed on Twitter to ask the police “to focus on dealing with this before the royal wedding,” urging Thames Valley Police to enforce an 1824 Vagrancy Act “against organised begging in Windsor.”
Murphy James, manager of the Windsor Homelessness Project, on Thursday accused Dudley of “vilifying the vulnerable.”
“Harping back to 1824 is not the answer,” Murphy said in a letter to the local Windsor and Eton Express.
“It is heartbreaking to read comments which put such an incorrect light on homelessness and the people who find themselves homeless,” the Brett Foundation, another local charity, added in a statement.