A new campaign set up by Nottingham City Council advising people not to give money to beggars has sparked a fierce debate on social media.
The council received the criticism over the new Give Smart posters which are around the city.
A petition has been set up to get the posters taken down and has more than 200 signatures.
Picture: People posted their views on their Facebook pages
The campaign was created to encourage people to directly donate to homeless charities instead of handing cash out to street beggars.
Notts Police and the council say many people begging in the city do so out of choice having already refused their help.
use the money to feed their lifestyle
Councillor Jon Collins, said: “Community Protection and the Police are continually taking action against a small number of persistent beggars who can sometimes be aggressive.
“Many of these individuals appear to be ‘rough sleeping’ when they have already been provided with accommodation and use the money to feed their lifestyle.”
Charity Framework holds several events throughout the year to raise money to help people sleeping rough and advises people to give directly to homelessness organisations.
Video: Sam LLoyd From Framework advises the best way to donate money
The petition was set up by Ruth Atkinson who was ‘shocked and disgusted’ by the posters.
She said,”Exploiting stereotypes like this would not be tolerated if discrimination were focused on gender, sexuality, race or religion.
“Just imagine if you saw a similar advert that advocated gay women as butch, or black men as criminals. You wouldn’t think twice about deeming it wrong, and these adverts are no different.”
