Vagrancy

Vagrancy is the condition of wandering homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds (archaically also: vagabones), rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by travelling while engaging in begging, scavenging, petty theft, temporary work, or social security (where available). Historically, vagrancy in Western societies was associated with petty crime, begging and lawlessness, and punishable by law with forced labor, military service, imprisonment, or confinement to dedicated labor houses.

Both vagrant and vagabond ultimately derive from the Latin word vagari, meaning "to wander". The term vagabond is derived from Latin vagabundus. In Middle English, vagabond originally denoted a person without a home or employment.

Tens of thousands of young people move from northern to southern Europe every summer, following the tourists and the fine weather, and intending to support themselves by begging. They consider begging a holiday job. Their demands strain local infrastructure, antagonize local inhabitants, and distract attention from the local homeless.