Homeless protest at soup run bans with party on the piazza - flashmobs and activists highlight "discriminatory" by-law

Published: 25 March 2011
by JOSH LOEB

HOMELESS people partied in Westminster Cathedral piazza on Sunday in protest at City Hall’s plan to ban soup runs in the area.

Hundreds flocked to the event, which featured free food, speeches, a mobile library operated by the Quakers and ska music by “Red” Jen Matthias and her Hari Krishna band. 

It followed a “flashmob” protest outside the Department for Communities and Local Government in which priests and activists wearing suits lay on their backs as music by Radiohead blasted out of speakers.

The activists say the proposed by-law, which would also criminalise rough sleeping in the piazza, is “discriminatory”, saying they expect City Hall will turn a blind-eye to any sunbathing businessman who happens to doze off in the square during his lunch break.

The council maintains that food handouts merely serve to keep vulnerable people on the streets longer, and says rough sleepers should bed down in Westminster’s hostels rather than on pavements.

The proposal has divided charities. St Mungo’s supports the proposed ban on soup runs but not the ban on rough sleeping. 

Others have claimed delays in securing accommodation mean some people have no choice but to sleep rough. 

Daniel Astaire, cabinet member for society, families and adult services, has defended the plans, saying: “Soup runs have no place in the 21st century and it is wrong and undignified that people are being fed on the streets. Handing out free food only serves to keep people on the streets for longer, damaging their health.”

Among those who attended Sunday’s festivities were pop singer Jimmy Somerville, environmental activist Tamsin Omond. Author Jad Adams, who runs a charity in Croydon, made a speech condemning the council’s proposals as “cruel and absurd”. 

Big Issue sellers and their dogs wore T-shirts emblazoned with the slogan “Westminster Council: Be Ashamed, Be Very Ashamed”. 

If eventually approved by the council, the by-law could be in place as early as October. 

City Hall says more details of the plans will be announced after a consultation period.