2023-09-05 20:24:00
Precariousness continues to grow and it is a phenomenon inherent in all large cities. These are the only points on which all the elected representatives of Namur agreed, during the back-to-school municipal council.
But when discussing the ordinance taken by the mayor before the summer and aimed at prohibiting begging near shopping malls until November 7, the tone became tense…. even within the majority. “I regret the amalgams between begging, alcohol consumption, feeling of insecurity, drug addiction”, said Philippe Noël, president of the CPAS. We must not put everyone in the same basket because the answers to be given to these problems are not the same.”
Between the lines, the leader of the Greens addressed a reproach to his partners within the college, Prévot in the lead. And to dissociate themselves from it at the time of the vote: as in 2017, the Écolo abstained. “Because the ordinance does not add anything to the police regulations in force, because it does not respect human rights, because it displaces and reinforces the problem”, listed Philippe Noël. His colleague, René Robaye, added illegality to the list of flaws. “It is contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and to the case law of the Council of State”.
Still on the left, but in opposition this time, the advisers also drew. Without surprise. “By prohibiting begging, we are fighting the poor. However, what must be done is to fight poverty”, launched Thierry Warmoes (PTB). His sidekick Robin Bruyère, for his part, evoked a certain responsibility of the college vis-à-vis the delicate situation in which the city finds itself today.
Fabian Martin (PS) was more tempered: “A single security response does not provide a long-term solution, he said. I regret that the Namur urban social relay did not contribute to building something to counter this phenomenon that we have faced.” A little earlier, Philippe Noël had mentioned the impact of the ordinance on the missions of social workers: “They spent more time looking for vulnerable people than helping them.”
PS and PTB are positioned against. DéFI and Françoise Kinet are for it.
Prévot “shocked” but not shaken
“I did not expect to have the congratulations of the jury”, launched Maxime Prévot, once the flood of criticism somewhat appeased. He said he was shocked by the exit of the president of the CPAS. “When we plead for the harmonious cohabitation of the territory, we must listen to everyone, not just to one category of people.”
The mayor mentioned the motivation which was his when taking the ordinance restricting begging: to attack behaviors and not people, in this case the most deprived. “Because a person lives in precariousness, can he insult and be aggressive?” And to add that the decision was supported by a police report and by the increasingly numerous testimonies of citizens.
Prévot also denied being the author of amalgams. “I am the first to say that the profiles should not be superimposed. But we must stop the hypocrisy. In this precarious public, there is also an overlay of layers.”
He further relativized the criticisms made by René Robaye on the illegality of the measure. “Begging is not the only right in the world that cannot be marked out and framed,” he said, citing in particular the free movement of people or freedom of expression.
Finally, he insisted on the limited scope of the polemical text. “The ordinance is limited in time and space. We are talking about three places of a few tens of meters. This in no way prevents the practice of begging everywhere else on the territory. 175 km2!”
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