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French town cages public benches to stop their use by homeless

The move came after shopkeepers in Angoulême, central France, complained that drunks monopolised the benches and scared customers away.

La rédaction de Mediapart

25 December 2014 à 18h31

This article is freely available.

The French town of Angoulême stirred up controversy on Christmas Eve by putting cages around public benches to keep homeless people at bay, reports FRANCE 24.

Shopkeepers in Angoulême, in central France, said they were fed up with drunks monopolising the benches and scaring customers away.

A spokesman for the city told AFP the seating areas were used “pretty much exclusively by drunks every day”.

Local reactions were indignant at this breach of the Christmas peace.

Former Angoulême MP Guillaume Garot called the move “shameful – this isn’t my France”, while others took to social media to express “outrage” at the move during the festive season.

Read more of this report from FRANCE 24.

La rédaction de Mediapart

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