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A call has been issued to abolish an act which makes it illegal to sleep rough or beg in Northern Ireland.
This comes after homeless charity Crisis obtained new figures from the PSNI that revealed 258 arrests have been made as a result of people sleeping rough or begging.
An SDLP councillor has slammed the figures and urged Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey MLA to take action.
Cllr Paul McCusker said: "It must be a source of shame that people in our society are criminalised for falling on hard times. We need to treat people with dignity and respect, giving them a hand up as opposed to kicking them when they are down. This inhumane law dehumanises the most vulnerable in our society, at the very time we should be supporting them.
"I will be writing urgently to the Communities Minister to ask her what plans she has to scrap the cruel and outdated Vagrancy Act," he concluded.
(CM/MH)
