Poor swept off Hanoi's streets

Poor swept off Hanoi's streets

HANOI (DPA): Vietnamese police have rounded up some 1,000 beggars, prostitutes and mentally ill people in Hanoi and sent them to camps outside the capital while senior officials started meetings on Tuesday ahead of a regional summit.

Rural laborers seeking work in the city have also been banned by officials trying to put the best sheen on Hanoi, which hosts the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders' summit to be held on Dec. 15 through Dec. 16.

Police have also launched a crackdown against known and suspected criminals in the past week and more than 400 drug traffickers, pushers and users have been locked up, police said Tuesday.

Three key routes into the capital from Hanoi's international airport have been cleared of temporary markets and some "trouble spots" have been dispersed, said other police sources.