Post by Duke John on Feb 21, 2008 5:54:50 GMT -5
Police clear out Romanian beggars' camp in Helsinki
Second hideaway found inside motorway bridge; motorway pedestrians pose traffic hazard
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Police in Helsinki emptied a camp set up by Roma beggars from Romania which had been set up in the east of the city.
The tents and belongings of the beggars were collected and taken to the police station in nearby Itäkeskus. A note in Romanian was left on the spot instructing the owners to fetch the goods from the police.
Jere Roimu of the Itäkeskus police emphasises that no crime is involved in the matter. The move was taken to enforce a ban on encampments within the Helsinki City Limits.
When the police and the Helsinki City Public Works Department emptied the camp, another makeshift dwelling place was found within the structures of a bridge in the Itäväylä motorway.
Roimu says that the greatest problem from the point of view of the police was that the people living in the camp had been walking across the motorway.
"It is very dangerous. Drivers have said that they had to swerve to avoid people walking on a three-lane section of Itäväylä."
A report on the camp was published in Helsingin Sanomat three weeks ago. Helsingin Sanomat visited the home village of the Roma in Transylvania three weeks ago, and the squalid conditions in the village were described in the newspaper on Saturday and Tuesday.
MP Juha Hakola (Nat. Coalition Party), who is also a member of the Helsinki City Council, asked in Parliament on February 7th if the government planned to react to the problem posed by the mendicants.
In their responses, Minister for Immigration and European Affairs Astrid Thors (Swed. People's Party), Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund (Nat. Coalition Party), and Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) noted in their responses that begging is not a crime as such.
The Ministry of the interior is compiling a working group to ponder the issue of begging, bringing together representatives of government offices, ministries, the Helsinki Police, and the City of Helsinki.
www.hs.fi/english/article/Police+clear+out+Romanian+beggars+camp+in+Helsinki/1135234214078
Second hideaway found inside motorway bridge; motorway pedestrians pose traffic hazard
print this
Police in Helsinki emptied a camp set up by Roma beggars from Romania which had been set up in the east of the city.
The tents and belongings of the beggars were collected and taken to the police station in nearby Itäkeskus. A note in Romanian was left on the spot instructing the owners to fetch the goods from the police.
Jere Roimu of the Itäkeskus police emphasises that no crime is involved in the matter. The move was taken to enforce a ban on encampments within the Helsinki City Limits.
When the police and the Helsinki City Public Works Department emptied the camp, another makeshift dwelling place was found within the structures of a bridge in the Itäväylä motorway.
Roimu says that the greatest problem from the point of view of the police was that the people living in the camp had been walking across the motorway.
"It is very dangerous. Drivers have said that they had to swerve to avoid people walking on a three-lane section of Itäväylä."
A report on the camp was published in Helsingin Sanomat three weeks ago. Helsingin Sanomat visited the home village of the Roma in Transylvania three weeks ago, and the squalid conditions in the village were described in the newspaper on Saturday and Tuesday.
MP Juha Hakola (Nat. Coalition Party), who is also a member of the Helsinki City Council, asked in Parliament on February 7th if the government planned to react to the problem posed by the mendicants.
In their responses, Minister for Immigration and European Affairs Astrid Thors (Swed. People's Party), Minister of the Interior Anne Holmlund (Nat. Coalition Party), and Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green) noted in their responses that begging is not a crime as such.
The Ministry of the interior is compiling a working group to ponder the issue of begging, bringing together representatives of government offices, ministries, the Helsinki Police, and the City of Helsinki.
www.hs.fi/english/article/Police+clear+out+Romanian+beggars+camp+in+Helsinki/1135234214078