News / Human Rights

British campaigners demand removal of ‘anti-homeless spikes’

Tuesday, 17 February 2015 5:33 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 17 February 2015 5:36 PM ]

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Campaigners urge Selfridges to remove 'anti-homeless spikes' from outside store.

Thousands of British activists have signed a petition calling for the removal of ‘anti-homeless spikes’ outside a Selfridges store in Manchester.

The activists say Selfridges has installed “hostile architecture” to stop homeless people from sleeping outside the building.

The online petition launched by Manchester Metropolitan university lecturer Cathy Urquhart has described the spikes as “an affront to humanity”.

“These spikes are an affront to humanity. They tell the homeless that they are not welcome, that they are a problem to be moved on. We should be looking after the homeless, not demonizing and scapegoating them. Manchester is better than this,” the 53 year-old campaigner wrote.

“They are so inhumane. Anyone who has seen the photograph sees what I mean. It has hostile architecture. I just gives the wrong message. It is about moving people on. It is about saying them they are not wanted here,” Cathy Urquhart told Press TV on Tuesday.

The Manchester Metropolitan university lecturer also said there should be no homeless person in the society. “With the recession in the UK, there have been more and more homeless people,” she noted.

According to the latest figures, more than 2,400 people sleep rough across the UK.

However, many of the homeless people do not show up in official figures. Homeless Link, a London-based charity supporting the homeless people, suggests that the number of homeless people have been on the rise in recent years.

“According to the latest figures, collected in the autumn of 2013 and published in February 2014, 2,414 people are estimated to be sleeping rough on any one night. This was up 5% from the estimated number of rough sleepers in 2012, 11% from 2011, and 37% from 2010.”

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