Politicians, NGOs assess Luxembourg City's begging ban after first six months

The Luxembourg City municipal council introduced a begging ban at the start of the year to address the capital's problems with organised begging. How do matters stand six months on? To answer that question, our colleagues from RTL.lu recently took a walk from Place Guillaume II to Place d'Armes, along Grand Rue and towards Rue Aldringen.

During the trip, the reporters only spotted two people begging on the streets. When asked, one of them said they had not seen so-called organised begging in practice for some time in the area.

At Place du Théâtre, RTL encountered several homeless people who often sleep in the area. One of them, Dimitri Op der Beeck, said the begging ban has not changed much for the homeless, as they usually only beg for help in the form of placing a cup beside them.

But the number of patrols and checks has increased and sometimes homeless people are asked to move on, Op der Beeck specifies, acknowledging that there are indeed fewer organised beggars on the streets

Luxembourg City Mayor Lydie Polfer told RTL the ban was primarily designed to target what she called "aggressive begging". At the presentation of the new local police force, the mayor said she was satisfied with the ban's results, specifically the defined times and places for begging. "I can only praise what the police have done since the start of the year, things have really improved. We just need to continue along these lines," she said.

Problem has merely shifted, say critics

Dr Bernard Thill, president of the Médecins du Monde charity, views the issue from a different angle. Although the charity's teams have found that there are fewer people on the streets in the city centre, it does not mean that the problem has been solved.

Beggars in the capital are now more likely to be on their own and to change locations more frequently, he says. Dr Thill further argued that affected people might have moved away from the centre of the country, but that they are certainly in other areas, such as shopping centres.

Homeless charity Stëmm vun der Strooss (Voice of the Street) agrees that the problem has merely shifted. The charity's restaurant shelter in Hollerich continues to serve around 370 meals a day. In December, the daily average was just 300, say organisers. Their Ettelbruck shelter has also noted an increase in the number of visitors seeking support.

André Dübbers, the new charity president, says they have already encountered resistance from residents. He hopes to create smaller, decentralised structures around the country to reduce inflammatory rhetoric around begging and to prevent further repressive measures targeting society's most vulnerable people.

Reforms underway  

After Minister of Justice Elisabeth Margue announced that simple begging should be removed from criminal law, Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden confirmed that reforms are underway: "Simple begging will be scrapped and we will clearly define aggressive begging... We are in the process of drafting the bill to give police regulations the necessary legal basis."

Once the new laws are in place, the Luxembourg City council will adapt their regulations, promises Polfer, who expressed high hopes for the local police, particularly concerning the begging ban and removal of individuals.

Opponents of the begging ban say that asking for help is a human right and cannot be forbidden. The ban, introduced last winter, means that beggars can be fined between €25 and €250 if they are caught begging outside of specific times in specific locations.

An information campaign for the ban was launched in December before the ban came into force in January. By mid-April, an increased police presence was introduced to enforce the ban, with four fines having been issued for violations since the introduction.

Now that the specific police plan has been disbanded, the statistics will no longer be collected, the new director general of the police told RTL.

Report in Luxembourgish: