Anger over city's spikes that target the homeless
Source: Xinhua |
July 7, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A southern Chinese city has come under fire after claims it was using concrete spikes to stop vagrants bedding down under overpasses.
Photographs posted online showed the pyramid-shaped spikes under an overpass in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
There was an outpouring of anger online, with many people saying the "concrete teeth" represented the ugly face of the city, exposing its inhumanity toward disadvantaged groups.
"If the government had the money (to install the spikes), why not spend it on charity, so that no vagrants would have to sleep under the bridge," microblogger "39 degrees centigrade" commented on Weibo.com.
"I can't understand why a city that presents itself as open and inclusive couldn't bear some vagrants. Please don't deprive them their last speck of land," was a comment from "Mini Mino."
Qu Zhihang, a Chinese performance artist, posted a picture of himself performing a naked push-up against the spikes.
"The spikes have been there for years, but I didn't know they were to repel wanderers. As a Guangzhou native, my conscience has been hurt," Qu said.
A city government official said the spikes were a historical legacy, installed more than a decade ago to make the space uninhabitable.
Some spiked areas were later replaced by greenery. The city has not added more spikes in recent years and is not planning to do so either, said the official.
Huang Jianrong, a retired worker in Guangzhou, recalled that the spikes dated back to the 1990s, when large numbers of immigrants came to the city, some of them ending up under the overpass.
"At that time, the public generally supported the government action, as the wanderers brought squalor and trouble after they settled down," Huang said.
Public opinion toward urban vagrants is divided. While some call for their rights to be protected, others associate their presence with idleness and begging.
Some other Chinese cities have rolled out controversial measures against such people.
In 2010, the southwestern city of Chengdu added arc-shaped benches at some bus stops.
Authorities said the benches' curved design was to prevent homeless people sleeping on them.
Officials in Shenzhen, another city in Guangdong, recently said that urban management officials would risk demotion or performance-related penalties if vagrants or beggars were found on streets within their jurisdiction, an almost explicit expulsion order for the city's homeless population.
Cai Lihui, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, said Chinese cities needed to find better ways to deal with vagrants, rather than forcefully banish them or turn a blind eye to their presence.
"China should adopt a sustainable system to provide active aid, job training and temporary housing for the homeless," Cai said.
Photographs posted online showed the pyramid-shaped spikes under an overpass in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province.
There was an outpouring of anger online, with many people saying the "concrete teeth" represented the ugly face of the city, exposing its inhumanity toward disadvantaged groups.
"If the government had the money (to install the spikes), why not spend it on charity, so that no vagrants would have to sleep under the bridge," microblogger "39 degrees centigrade" commented on Weibo.com.
"I can't understand why a city that presents itself as open and inclusive couldn't bear some vagrants. Please don't deprive them their last speck of land," was a comment from "Mini Mino."
Qu Zhihang, a Chinese performance artist, posted a picture of himself performing a naked push-up against the spikes.
"The spikes have been there for years, but I didn't know they were to repel wanderers. As a Guangzhou native, my conscience has been hurt," Qu said.
A city government official said the spikes were a historical legacy, installed more than a decade ago to make the space uninhabitable.
Some spiked areas were later replaced by greenery. The city has not added more spikes in recent years and is not planning to do so either, said the official.
Huang Jianrong, a retired worker in Guangzhou, recalled that the spikes dated back to the 1990s, when large numbers of immigrants came to the city, some of them ending up under the overpass.
"At that time, the public generally supported the government action, as the wanderers brought squalor and trouble after they settled down," Huang said.
Public opinion toward urban vagrants is divided. While some call for their rights to be protected, others associate their presence with idleness and begging.
Some other Chinese cities have rolled out controversial measures against such people.
In 2010, the southwestern city of Chengdu added arc-shaped benches at some bus stops.
Authorities said the benches' curved design was to prevent homeless people sleeping on them.
Officials in Shenzhen, another city in Guangdong, recently said that urban management officials would risk demotion or performance-related penalties if vagrants or beggars were found on streets within their jurisdiction, an almost explicit expulsion order for the city's homeless population.
Cai Lihui, a professor at Sun Yat-sen University, said Chinese cities needed to find better ways to deal with vagrants, rather than forcefully banish them or turn a blind eye to their presence.
"China should adopt a sustainable system to provide active aid, job training and temporary housing for the homeless," Cai said.
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