stopped lunch-time shoppers along Queen Street yesterday to find out whether or not they thought vagrants in the city centre were a problem, or aggressive, as they have been referred to by the business community.

This so-called aggressive behaviour has sparked appeals by the business community to have them removed from Hamilton during the day time.

The Eliza Doolittle Society has also once again called on the Government to fund a day-time shelter for the more than 200 homeless people ?living rough?.

The owner of Lemon Tree Caf?, , described the vagrants in Par-la-Ville Park as ?rude? and said he had seen them on numerous occasions harassing tourists, exposing themselves in public to urinate on park benches and digging in the garbage.

?If they behaved themselves it would not be a problem,? he said.

Mr. Garzia said the homeless issue was a world-wide problem and simply moving them somewhere else was not a solution.

?A shelter would be a good idea and perhaps some of the charities on the Island can give them part-time work,? he said.

He said it was unfortunate that Bermuda?s image as a safe, beautiful and friendly place was marred by the vagrants that harassed tourists.

?Some people are scared of them, especially the older people,? he said.

Senior Library Assistant, said the vagrants that frequented the benches in front of the public library on Queen Street were ?a nuisance?.

?Library patrons, including children and tourists have to walk past them while they lie there sleeping, drinking and cussing at people,? he said.

He said staff at the library had called the Police on numerous occasions, but they simply told the vagrants to move.

Mr. York said as soon as the Police left the vagrants would simply return.

?We even watched the Police one day taking away their bottles of alcohol, pouring the drink on the ground and then just walking away,? he said.

Police presence in Hamilton, he said was ?pretty much nil? and he felt a stronger presence might discourage vagrants from both the park and the library benches.

Shop assistant, , said she worked in a shop on Front Street and sometimes the vagrants would come into the shop and shout at people.

?They scare patrons and they?re a nuisance,? she said.

Miss Smith was also in favour of a shelter and visible policing on the streets of Hamilton.

has been living in Bermuda for 20 years and said there were a lot more vagrants on the streets of Hamilton before begging was made illegal.

?There are a lot less of them now so I don?t know what all the fuss is about. I?ve never been bothered by them,? she said.

Her mother, , said she had heard of vagrants living in Victoria Park, but had never actually seen any.

She said she also had never been bothered by any of them.

?Some of these people might be mentally ill and a shelter would be a good place for them to get some help,? she suggested.

Mrs. Melling said the majority of homeless people living on the streets in London (where she?s from) have some form of mental illness and did not want to be institutionalised, or housed.

?It?s their choice to live on the street,? she said, adding that perhaps that was the case in Bermuda.

?They are human beings, they?re not trash and they deserve to be helped,? she said.