A WOMAN has received support since launching a petition to fight abuse against the homeless.

Nichole Brennan from Brighton said abusing the homeless is a hate crime.

She started a petition in December last year and has since gained more than 500 signatures.

She said: “Abusing the homeless has horrifyingly turned into a sport, and it is time to stand up for society’s most marginalised minority. It’s time to call it what it is; a hate crime.”

Recent government statistics show Brighton to have the second highest population of rough sleepers behind Westminster in London.

Nichole said: “With the second highest population of rough sleepers, and with the highest density of nightclubs in the UK, homeless people on our streets are subject to various forms of social ridicule and inhumane treatment. Society’s most vulnerable need your urgent help. It’s time to give rough sleepers the dignity they deserve and the humanity that keeps being taken away from them. Assaulting and abusing the homeless is a crime and it is time to treat it as such.”