A bed of metal spikes appeared recently in the doorway of a pricey London apartment complex, and now some residents, as well as Twitter users, are outraged. They say the spikes are a brutal and inhuman method to prevent homeless people from sleeping outside the posh residential building where apartments sell for $1.3 million — and up.
“There was a homeless man asleep there about six weeks ago,” one resident of the building todl London’s Telegraph newspaper. “Then about two weeks ago all of a sudden studs were put up outside. I presume it is to deter homeless people from sleeping there.”
Another resident confirmed the purpose of the inch-high spikes.
“It’s because of the homeless. The spikes have only been there very recently, less than a month,” the resident — who asked not to be named — told the newspaper.
Not everyone in the ritzy neighborhood was thrilled about the anti-homeless spikes.
“I feel really uncomfortable having these spikes in front of my home,” said local resident Emi Takehara. “It’s like treating these homeless people like animals.”
The expensive building is located at 118 Southwark Bridge Road in central London. But a representative of the Southwark Council said the local government had nothing to do with this new weapon against the homeless.
