Organised street begging

Organised street begging in Benidorm 

Organised street begging 

As in every town and city in the world Benidorm has its share of street beggars, some are genuine, many are not but organised groups.

NEWS UPDATES from Alicante 14th October 2020 Barcala recovers Sonia Castedo's begging and prostitution ordinance with harsher fines.

Five years after the Alicante tripartite repealed the municipal ordinance of begging and prostitution for having a "sanctioning and non-preventive vision", the bipartisan led by Luis Barcala has begun processing to recover a document promoted by the government of Sonia Castedo in 2011. However, with more items and harsher fines.

The ordinance pursues from "coercive, intrusive or aggressive begging" to "offering and demanding sexual services" or "services or products, persistently or intimidatingly", as well as "camping on public roads"

The bipartisan PP and Cs ensures that it seeks to "preserve public spaces, promote better coexistence and greater civics, as well as act against illegal and coercive begging".

Some parties from the left, (PSOE, Unidas Podemos and Compromís) yesterday criticized Barcala's government for retrieving a text which, in its view, "punishes the most vulnerable groups". 

SOME OF THE VIOLATIONS CONTAINED IN THE NEW ORDINANCE

Serious and very serious offences: from begging 

Conduct that, under the appearance of begging or in an organized manner, represents coercive attitudes or harassment or intentionally impedes the free transit of citizens through public spaces (from 750.01 to 1,500 euros). When exercised directly or indirectly with the accompaniment of minors or persons with functional diversity (from 1,500.01 to 3,000 euros).

Minor violations: from using fonts to selling items

Carrying out activities that obstruct traffic, endanger the safety of people or manifestly impede the free transit of people (up to 750 euros).

Camping on the roads and public spaces of the city, an action that also includes stable installation in public spaces of tents, stalls, mattresses, vehicles, motorhomes or caravans, except authorizations for specific places (up to 750 euros).

Offering services or products, persistently or intimidatingly, provided that they have not been demanded by the user (up to 500 euros).

Organised street begging 27-09-2019

The Municipal Group of Citizens (Cs) has alerted to a possible increase in organized begging and the existence of homeless people on the streets of Benidorm

Cs spokesman, Juan Balastegui, explained that "on the Avenida Mediterraneo,  we can see the same people doing different shifts on a daily basis, without anyone doing anything about it." Likewise, the councilor has indicated that "we found people begging on other public roads which are heavy with pedestrian traffic." In addition, he pointed out that " in the center there are more and more people sleeping outdoors, they do it every day in the same place surrounded by household goods."

Organised street begging

Begging in the streets of Benidorm photo by David Revenga

The leader of Citizens has reproached that " the draft of the civic code promoted by Cs to stop this, as well as street prostitution and drunken tourism, rests forgotten in a drawer without the PP showing interest in finalizing it."

The councillor has claimed to act at least based on the Criminal Code. "Article 232 imposes prison sentences for those who use persons with disabilities in need of special protection for the practice of begging, even if it is concealed."

Finally, the spokesman recalled that "the draft of the civic ordinance seeks to protect people who are in Benidorm against behaviors that adopt forms of insistent, intrusive or aggressive begging, as well as organized, whether direct or covert." He also specified that "in those cases of behaviors that adopt forms of begging that have social roots, the agents of the authority will contact the social services."

The news article above has been translated from Spanish to English so some detail may be slightly lost in translation read the original story at www.diarioinformacion.com

This story with quotes taken from  Benidorm Seriously Facebook group made news headlines back in the UK 

ILL-GOTTEN GAINS Benidorm´s infamous crippled beggar, see walking perfectly healthily with a bag of cash amid claims that he drives a Mercedes. The beggar is said to make hundreds from soft-touch tourists by moving painfully slowly along the pavement using a crutch and cup.

This photo shows him off duty

It was reported back in 2014 -

Street beggars are being controlled by mafia in Benidorm, they are taken by van to strategist points in the town where they spend most of their day begging.  Social Welfare stated that,40% of those begging in the municipality are related to the mafia.

According to the Benidorm City Hall, only 27% of the beggars have accepted help from Social Services.

All news stories can be found HERE

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