A group of homeless people gatecrashed a CEO sleepout in Adelaide on Thursday night.
About six people took issue with the group of 120 chief executives staying in Whitmore Square overnight, a park where homeless people often stay.
St Vincent de Paul chief executive David Wark said on Friday the group “made a couple of comments, saying ‘I don’t think sleeping out for one night means you understand what it means to be homeless’. And I think that’s fair.”
Wark told 891 ABC Adelaide the group may been offended by the marquees and fences put up around the site.
“We didn’t put the marquees or the fencing in an area where they might normally occupy,” Wark said.
“I think it was just having marquees in Whitmore Square was something very different and took people by surprise.”
Wark said the homeless people accused participants of not understanding what homelessness felt like.
“The homeless people were demanding in one instance, ‘can you give us some money’, and in other instances ‘what are you doing here?’
“They certainly stayed and made their presence felt and then occupied a seat or two for maybe 15 or 20 minutes, but that’s OK, that’s a real experience and that’s what we’re trying to provide people that are doing it.”
About 1,300 chief executives take part in the annual sleepout, which aims to raise awareness and fund services for the 100,000 Australians who sleep rough on the streets. The Adelaide event involved 120 CEOs and raised $560,000 for St Vincent de Paul.
• Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
