Destroyed tents and bleach-soaked violence: Most rough sleepers say they’re treated unfairly by police
HOMELESSNESS
A Greater Manchester Police officer dragging and “stamping” on a rough sleeper is just the latest outrageous example of unfair treatment facing the most vulnerable people in our society.
Footage uncovered by the BBC last month showed a police officer dragging a rough sleeper along the ground in Manchester in September last year.
The man caught up in the incident – believed to be a 31-year-old from Sudan – said he was left with blood in his urine following the stamp on his stomach.
The video, described as “appalling and degrading” by homelessness charity Crisis, resulted in an apology from the Greater Manchester Police, which also said the incident “must not be repeated”, while the officer was given “refresher training”.
Jo Walby, the chief executive of Manchester homelessness charity Mustard Tree, told The Big Issue the incident is “clearly appalling, is unacceptable, and does not reflect our city”.
But it’s far from an isolated incident. Since ex-home secretary Suella Braverman’s controversial comments describing street homelessness as a “lifestyle choice” last November a number of incidents have come to light.
Just days later, a man sleeping rough in a tent was arrested when Metropolitan Police officers cleared a number of tents from outside a London hospital. Footage from the incident showed refuse workers throwing tents into a bin lorry and went viral on social media.
Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley later apologised to the man who was arrested, Anthony Sinclair, after legal action from human rights lawyers Liberty. A month later, footage of a homeless man’s blankets being soaked in bleach outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Central London also sparked anger.
Appalling treatment of rough sleepers ‘not isolated incidents’
A small-scale academic study shared exclusively with The Big Issue found a difficult relationship between rough sleepers and the police. Academics from King’s College London and Lambeth Service Users Council have been quizzing homeless people at hostels in South London over the stigma and discrimination they have experienced on the street.
Early results from the Social Response to Stigma study found two-thirds of those surveyed claimed they had been unfairly treated by the police.
River Újhadbor, one of the researchers on the study at King’s College London, said: “Our
