Basel-Stadt already fines 28 beggars in the first month

The canton police One month after the new begging ban came into force, Basel-Stadt issued a total of 28 buses. According to the police, most beggars know about the new regulation.

Begging has been in the canton of Basel-Stadt since severely restricted from September 1st. It can be punished with fines of 50 to 100 francs.

Since the beginning of September the canton police have issued a total of 28 fines, As Toprak Yerguz, Head of Communication in the Basel Department of Justice and Security, told the Keystone-SDA news agency on request. In the first month the police discovered that the beggars were well aware of the new regulation from the beginning.

According to Yerguz, it is unclear whether there are fewer beggars in Basel because of the new regulation. “It feels like the number of beggars has decreased, but this tendency was already apparent before it came into force.” Among other things, this is due to the fact that the police had informed the beggars about the planned new regulation since June.

Begging in an “intrusive or aggressive manner” has been fined 100 francs for a month. There is a fine of 50 francs for begging at neuralgic and particularly sensitive locations. This applies, among other things, to entrances and exits of train stations as well as shops, banks, post offices, restaurants, cultural institutions, public buildings and the vicinity of public transport stops and playgrounds within a radius of five meters.

Last June, the Grand Council came out in favor of severe legal restrictions on begging. The government was unable to re-introduce the general ban on begging, which was lifted in 2019, as requested by the Grand Council, due to a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) against a general ban in the canton of Geneva.

The group of democratic jurists Basel wants to have the new begging ban lifted – they have filed a complaint against the canton with the federal court. The complaint is directed against the provisions of the Infringement Penalty Act, which would violate federal and international law as well as cantonal constitutional law.

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