200 beggars, vagrants rounded up

JAKARTA: About 200 beggars and other people living on the streets were rounded up during a crackdown on various areas of West Jakarta and Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

The crackdown was carried out by local public order officers and civilian defense officers on the grounds that the beggars and the others were disturbing the peace.

A total of 129 people were arrested in West Jakarta and along the border of West and Central Jakarta, while 63 others were rounded up in Central Jakarta, beritajakarta.com reported on Wednesday.

They were brought to a rehabilitation center in Kedoya, West Jakarta, where they will be held for several days before they are sent back to their hometowns.

Asli Husein from the center said that the 129 people taken to the center during the raids consisted of 62 beggars, including two afflicted with leprosy, 29 vagrants, five street singers, a transvestite, seven hawkers, seven shoe shiners and 10 people suffering from mental illness. Seven others were arrested for failing to produce an ID card. --JP