Lithuania cracks down on beggars and almsgivers

ASSOCIATED PRESS: A coin tossed into a beggar's hat in Vilnius can be costly charity.

Lithuania's capital recently introduced a ban on panhandling that not only punishes those who beg but those who give, with fines of up to 2,000 litas ($770).

Outraged rights groups say the ban spells misery for the needy in one of Europe's poorest countries, as winter kicks in and economic turmoil spreads across the continent. Like other European Union nations, Lithuania has been implementing severe welfare cuts that promise to hit the homeless hard.

"Begging is a human right," said Linas Kukuraitis, director of the Lithuanian chapter of Catholic charity group Caritas. "It was there long before cities emerged. There have always been those who begged and those who helped them."

But Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas says the ban will help beggars to find more sustainable ways to make a living.
"Giving money to people on the street is wrong," Zuokas said. "By doing this we doom them to stay there forever."
The ordinance took effect last week, but local police in Vilnius are not issuing fines just yet. Instead they are handing out cards to beggars with addresses and phone numbers of charities and homeless shelters. Stricter enforcement is expected to begin in January.

The mayor himself rode his bicycle on the cobblestone streets of the medieval city center on Sunday, looking for violators of the ban. Zuokas made a splash on YouTube earlier this year by riding an armored personnel carrier over a luxury car as a publicity stunt for his crackdown on illegal parking.

"You are doing the wrong thing by giving them money," Zuokas told a Polish tourist who dropped coins in an old man's hat. "If you really want to help them, it is better to give food or give to charity."

He said there are plenty of homeless shelters for the poor in Vilnius, "but they stay on the streets because it is a kind of business."

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