Police in one Indian city are cracking down on beggars and clearing them off the streets ahead of Ivanka Trump’s visit this month for a much-hyped business conference.
CNN reports that police in the city of Hyderabad, the city’s police commissioner ordered a two-month crackdown this week to sweep vagrants off the streets ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit this month. However, authorities say it does not have to do with Ms. Trump’s visit.
“It’s a permanent drive,” V.K. Singh, the director general of prisons in Hyderabad, told the outlet. “The government, since 30 years, have been trying to figure out what to do about them.”
Singh blamed a wider network for forcing people, particularly children, to beg on the streets — where such an act is a criminal offense. He went on to say that he intends to renew the order, indicating that it could be part of a broader plan to tackle the problem
According to the Indian Express, nearly 400 beggars have been relocated to a rehabilitation center at a nearby jail.
“Some beggars argued that we were taking their freedom to live anywhere they want but we told them it was for their own good because they are going to the rehab center where they will be taken care of,” a local official told the Express.
The outlet reports that about 6,000 beggars would be moved to centers and shelters. It also notes that Hyderabad police conducted a similar operation around the time of a visit by former President Bill Clinton when he visited in 2000.
Officials told the Express that Ivanka is expected to do some sightseeing and meet with entrepreneurs during her visit at the end of the month.
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY.
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