Beijing's homeless get touch of warmth
Street sleepers who came to petition for justice lose winter quilts and coats in official raid – then volunteers show up bearing gifts of relief
When Dong Meihua and other volunteers for the homeless arrived at the Yongdingmen long-haul bus station in Beijing carrying quilts, overcoats and snacks on Monday, they were quickly surrounded by some 30 grateful faces.
The group of homeless living at the bus station had become increasingly desperate since Dongcheng district street and sanitation authorities launched a weekend vagrancy crackdown that, they said, saw their blankets and much of their winter clothes taken away.
"They stared at us like they were greeting their liberators. Many actually had tears falling down their cheeks," Dong, 51, said. "They said they felt that authorities didn't want them to live after law enforcement officials earlier confiscated their belongings."
Dong's volunteer group, A Helping Hand In The Street, which was founded last year by Chinese Academy of Social Sciences professor Yu Jianrong , went to the bus station with relief supplies after learning about the incident, she said.
Dongcheng district authorities deny that they took the homeless people's belongings by force, claiming they merely collected what the street people left behind.
The episode has nevertheless called attention to the plight of the homeless living in the capital through what has so far been the coldest winter in nearly three decades.
Aid volunteers say a vast majority of the homeless are petitioners from outside the city who have come to air grievances against their hometowns. As non-residents of Beijing, they do not qualify for long-term shelter placements, but they refuse to return home until someone responds to their complaints.