200 beggars, vagrants rounded up

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