A STREET cleaner has been slammed for appearing to spray a homeless person with a jet washer while cleaning the pavement.
The worker can be seen hosing down the concrete with water next to where the victim was lying down.
He is then caught on camera as he appeared to douse the makeshift bed in water.
At one point, the homeless person sits up in their bed after being soaked, and appears to hold their hands up.
The worker continues to spray water until the woman filming approaches and asks him: “Are you from Camden Council?”, before the video cuts.
Footage of the incident in Camden, North London yesterday sparked outrage after it was shared on social media by homeless outreach group Streets Kitchen.
'HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT'
Streets Kitchen claims it is part of an “ever-growing vicious hostile environment in London for those experiencing homelessness”.
A Streets Kitchen spokesman said: “Dear Camden Council, Keir Starmer and Camden police, can we please find out what exactly is going on here?
“These ongoing inhumane assaults on those experiencing homelessness in the borough can never be acceptable.
“We, along with many of our Homeless Taskforce colleagues have been observing and documenting an ever-growing vicious hostile environment in London for those experiencing homelessness particularly in Camden and Westminster.
This must stop now
“This must stop now.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is the local MP.
Museum of Homelessness, an award-winning social justice museum documenting the history of homeless people, added: “It is dehumanising.
“Unfortunately aggressive enforcement tactics are very common at the moment, it appears to achieve something for the agencies and authorities who use these tactics.”
Matt Downie said: “What is this achieving, apart from dehumanising people? Awful.”
'SICKENING'
Katherine Bollard slammed: “This is sickening! Fancy being the person being the person told to do this and feeling this is ok?
“It is not okay to do this to people who are sleeping rough.”
Scott Thompson added: “Sadly the person doing this doesn’t recognise the homeless as human beings – all he sees is an object equivalent to trash on the street.
“But in failing to recognise the humanity of others he denies others the opportunity of recognising his own!“
A Camden Council spokesman said: “We expect people experiencing homelessness in Camden to be treated with respect at all times. We are looking into this incident to understand its full circumstances.
"We can confirm that the cleaners are not Camden council staff or contractors.”
We pay for your stories!
Do you have a story for The Sun news desk?
Email us at [email protected] or call 02077824104. You can WhatsApp us on 07423 720 250. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours
Click here to get The Sun newspaper delivered for FREE for the next six weeks.
Source: Read Full Article