Why don't the homeless want to go to
relief stations? A media reporter in Hunan disguised as a homeless man
suffered tortures and assault in a relief station as he tried to find
out what life was like there.
The terrible trip ended up when the reporter signed and pressed a
handprint on the form to "voluntarily refuse to receive help from the
relief station."
The relief station in Changsha responded that the reporter was beaten
because he refused to accept a body search by the duty doctor and
security guards who suspected there were some dangerous items in his
bulged pocket. The security guards caught him by violence for fear that
he would hurt the doctor.
The explanation seems to emphasize that this is just an individual case
and not the conventional way of treating vagrants, but it is difficult
to convince the public.
The violent behavior of the rescue shelter in Changsha is perhaps an
extreme case, but it tells the public that although the "management
method for internment and repatriation" had been abolished in 2003, some
regulators did not change the habitual thinking of regulating the
vagrants. They have been used to treating the vulnerable group with
fists and refused to serve them.
The urban homeless people and beggars should be respected and treated
well and enjoy full civil rights. They have the right to accept or
refuse aid but their personal safety and dignity should not be shelved
because they receive the aid.