Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Homeless 'removed' for WYD

An advocacy group says up to a 130 homeless people have been removed from Sydney during World Youth Day celebrations.

Kevin Simpson from Homeless Voice says men and woman who normally sleep in the city or the Domain have been moved out by authorities.

"I am a little bit surprised they haven't taken more care of the actual people who Jesus came for and that's the disadvantaged, marginalised broken people," he said.

Homeless Voice says during APEC people who sleep on the streets were offered accommodation in motels but not so during World Youth Day.

ABC TV spoke to homeless man Shane.

He normally sleeps in the Domain car park.

"Since the Pope and that's been in town we've had to relocate to this open park and if it rains we're sort of buggered, we've got no wind block," he said.

World Youth Day organisers say all Catholic welfare groups remain in operation.

But WYD coordinator Bishop Anthony Fisher says the soup kitchen offered in the city has had to be shifted to a neighbouring suburb, Woolloomooloo.

"I know some of them have moved in order to ensure the privacy of those homeless people so they're not surrounded by pilgrims, so they can eat their soup in privacy," he said.

0 comments:

Latest Posts

Latest Comments