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39-641: The mosque, along with nearby shopping stalls, was demolished by local authorities in 2013, due to tenants' lack of legal ownership of the site, and an ordinance to widen city streets and prevent pickpocketing and violence in the area. A belfry for the National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help is currently being built in its place, as part of the shrine's redevelopment plan that is expected to be completed in 2016. Baclaran Mosque sat on reclaimed land on Roxas Boulevard just south of Epifanio de los Santos Avenue , overlooking Manila Bay . The mosque, which

78-574: A " struggle " against demolition attempts. The Office of Muslim Affairs and the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Manila wrote to the government to seek assurances that the mosque would not be affected; the PRA promised that it would not tear down the mosque, and said that a search was underway to identify a suitable relation site for the mosque. On the morning of 7 June, a PRA demolition team and 50 Pasay city police surrounded

117-636: A case at the Old Bailey made it clear that this was supposed to prevent people who had been robbed while they were drunk from prosecuting the defendant (in most of the cases that meant men who had been robbed by prostitutes): The victims of pickpockets who were drunk at the time of the theft were considered to be partially responsible for being robbed. Even though pickpockets were supposed to be hanged for their crime, this punishment, in fact, rarely happened: 61% of women accused of picking pockets were acquitted and those who were not acquitted often managed to escape

156-606: A letter to the government. Affected residents remained in the vicinity of the mosque, and on 26 June were granted a 60-day reprieve from the eviction order. In the end, the residents rebuilt their homes on the same land. In June 2008, after a court order from the Parañaque Regional Trial Court for residents to vacate the area, 300 instead armed themselves with wooden clubs and successfully faced off another demolition attempt by 100 Pasay city police officers. In May 2009, then Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita sent

195-739: A memorandum to the Philippine Reclamation Authority instructing them to reclaim the land and relocate the mosque to another site on Coastal Road , so that the land could be used for the construction of the Southwest Public Transport Intermodal Center . However, local residents claimed that the land would actually be used for high-end residential developments and casinos. Oscar V. Cruz , the founder of anti-gambling organization Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (People's Crusade Against Jueteng ) and then- Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan , spoke out in opposition to

234-618: A mixture of sleight of hand and misdirection. To get the proper misdirect or distraction, pickpockets will normally use the distracting environment that crowds offer or create situations using accomplices. Pickpocketing still thrives in Europe and other countries that are high in tourism. It's most common in areas with large crowds. Sometimes pickpockets put signs up that warn tourists to watch for pickpockets. This causes people to worry and quickly check if their valuables are still on them, thereby showing pickpockets exactly where their valuables are. Once

273-519: A pickpocket finds a person they want to steal from, often called a "mark" or a victim, the pickpocket will then create or look for an opportunity to steal. The most common methods used by modern-day pickpockets are: Famous fictional pickpockets include the Artful Dodger and Fagin , characters from the Charles Dickens ' 1838 novel Oliver Twist . Famous true-life historical pickpockets include

312-467: A piece of clothing, and not "as opposed to pouches or bags hanging outside their clothes". These external pockets were still in fashion until the mid-19th century. Pickpocketing in the 18th century was committed by both men and women (looking at prosecuted cases of pickpocketing, it appears that there were more female defendants than male.) Along with shoplifting , pickpocketing was the only type of crime committed by more women than men. It seems that in

351-440: A question or bumping into the victim. These distractions sometimes require sleight of hand, speed, misdirection and other types of skills. Pickpockets may be found in any crowded place around the world. However, Barcelona and Rome have been noted as being particularly dangerous pickpocket havens. Thieves have been known to operate in high traffic areas such as mass transit stations, even boarding subway trains so they can use

390-408: Is a form of larceny that involves the stealing of money or other valuables from the person or a victim's pocket without them noticing the theft at the time. It may involve considerable dexterity and a knack for misdirection . A thief who works in this manner is known as a pickpocket . Pickpockets and other thieves, especially those working in teams, sometimes apply distraction , such as asking

429-464: The Old Bailey between 1780 and 1808 show that male pickpockets were somewhat younger than female ones: 72% of men pickpockets convicted at the time were aged from under 20 to 30, while 72% of women convicted of picking pockets were aged between 20 and 40. One reason that may explain why women pickpockets were older is that most of women pickpockets were prostitutes (this explains why very few women under 20 years old were convicted for picking pockets). At

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468-411: The 17th century, pickpockets were sometimes referred to as "cut-purses", as can be seen in some 17th century ballads. At that time, pockets were not yet sewn to clothes, as they are today. This means that the pockets were a small purse that people wore close to their body. This was especially true for women, since men's pockets were sewn "into the linings of their coats". Women's pockets were worn beneath

507-413: The 18th century, most pickpockets stole out of economic needs: they were often poor and did not have any economic support, and unemployment was "the single most important cause of poverty", leading the most needy ones to pick pockets. In most cases, pickpockets operated depending on the opportunities they got: if they saw someone wearing a silver watch or with a handkerchief bulging out of their pocket,

546-742: The Baclaran Mosque is Metro Manila's third biggest. There is some confusion as to what city government should actually have jurisdiction over the site; the mosque was constructed on the strength of a building permit from Parañaque, but the Office of Muslim Affairs (now the National Commission on Muslim Filipinos ) claims the site is in Pasay. In March 2007, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) ordered residents around

585-786: The Irish prostitute Chicago May , who was profiled in books; Mary Frith , nicknamed Moll Cutpurse; the Gubbins band of highwaymen; and Cutting Ball , a notorious Elizabethan thief. George Barrington 's escapades, arrests, and trials, were widely chronicled in the late 18th-century London press . The 17th and 18th centuries saw a significant number of men and women pickpockets, operating in public and/or private places and stealing different types of items. Some of those pickpockets were caught and prosecuted for their theft, however, in most cases, they managed to avoid punishment (whether they were skilful enough not to get caught or they were acquitted in court). In

624-610: The authority of an adult who trained them to steal. The children involved in these gangs were orphans (either because of having been abandoned or because their parents had died), and the whole relationship they had with the adult ruling the gang and the other children was that of a "surrogate family". Charles Dickens ' Oliver Twist provides a good example of how orphans were recruited and turned into street criminals. Male and female pickpockets tended to operate in different locations: 80% of men operated in public areas while 78% of women operated in private places. This can be explained by

663-472: The capital sentence, as only 6% of defendants accused of pickpocketing between 1780 and 1808 were hanged. In the cases of prostitutes being accused of having pickpocketed male prosecutors, the jury's verdict was very often more favourable to the woman defendant than to the man prosecuting her. Men who had been laying with prostitutes were frowned upon by the court. One of the reasons was that they had chosen to take off their clothes, they were also drunk most of

702-495: The demolition, as did the NGO Urban Poor Associates . In early August, Swiss NGO Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions also wrote a letter to then- President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to urge her to halt the evictions and to condemn the worsening living convictions faced by the residents due to the repeated demolition attempts. The Parañaque Regional Trial Court Branch 274 issued a writ of execution in relation to

741-467: The distractions of crowds and sudden stop-and-go movements from the train to steal from others. As soon as the thieves have what they want, they simply get off at the next stop leaving the victim unable to figure out who robbed them and when. Pickpocketing skills are employed by some magicians as a form of entertainment, either by taking an item from a spectator or by returning it without them knowing they had lost it. Borra  [ de ] , arguably

780-402: The easiest items to take from someone without them noticing it. Women tended to steal watches (some pickpockets also stole watches in public places, but it was more difficult) and bags with money in them. When defending themselves in court, prostitutes often argued that the money had been a gift from the victim and managed to be acquitted, as the men prosecuting them were often drunk at the time of

819-786: The end of the 18th century, 76% of women defendants were prostitutes, and as a result, the victims of pickpockets were more often men than women. In most cases, these prostitutes would lay with men (who were frequently drunk), and take advantage of the situation to steal from these clients. Men who were robbed by prostitutes often chose not to prosecute the pickpockets, since they would have had to acknowledge their "immoral behaviour". The few men who decided to prosecute prostitutes for picking their pockets were often mocked in Court, and very few prostitutes ended up being declared fully guilty. The men who were prosecuted for picking pockets and who were under 20 years old were often children working in gangs, under

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858-429: The fact that most female pickpockets were prostitutes, robbing their victims in their lodging after having lain with them. Male pickpockets, on the other hand, tended to operate in public places because they did not have the opportunity that prostitutes had. The fact that men and women did not operate in the same places led to them stealing different types of items: men stole mostly handkerchiefs, because they were one of

897-625: The large, well-maintained church and the far more modest mosque as an opening allegory to an analysis of the inequalities between Muslims and Catholics in the Philippines. The Baclaran Mosque is owned by the Baclaran-Parañaque City Islamic Center, Inc. , whose legal representatives are Nasser Ramos, Jalil Moluk, and Sultan Sohayle Cosain Tanandato. It was built in 1994. Abdelmanan Tanandato, brother of Sultan Tanandato, claims that

936-401: The main character. British entertainer James Freedman created the pickpocket sequences for the 2005 film Oliver Twist directed by Roman Polanski . American illusionist David Avadon featured pickpocketing as his trademark act for more than 30 years and promoted himself as "a daring pickpocket with dashing finesse" and "the country's premier exhibition pickpocket, one of the few masters in

975-569: The memorandum on 13 August 2009. This writ ordered the settlers and the mosque to vacate the area peacefully, and warned that the court might use force to implement the order. The writ was delivered just before the start of Ramadan that year, leading to further consternation by the Muslims. In September, Catholic priest and activist Fr. Robert Reyes, showed solidarity with the Muslim residents by joining them in their Ramadan fast, and expressed his opposition to

1014-644: The mosque to vacate their land, stating that the structures they lived in were illegal and would be torn down in May. The MMDA offered residents ₱ 5,000 in compensation to move to other sites. Roberto Esquivel , said on behalf of the MMDA that the mosque would remain untouched temporarily, but the residents themselves had to move. By June, the Philippine Reclamation Authority (PRA) claimed that 121 out of 344 total families there had accepted ₱30,000 in compensation to return to their home provinces. Remaining families were quoted as vowing

1053-495: The mosque was demolished by the city government due to the lack of legal land ownership held by a shopping mall, as well as an effort to reduce known pickpocketing and violence in the nearby area. In the early weeks, various illegal shopping stalls were also ordered by the city mayor to be disposed due to congesting the city streets and designated parking slots leading up to the area around the Shrine. Pickpocket Pickpocketing

1092-488: The mosque. However, in the short term, they stated that the mosque would remain in place and the transit center plans would seek to "integrate" the mosque. The proposed relocation site, Lot 1555 in Barangay Tambo, was also reportedly the object of a dispute between the government and a private individual. The individual in question, Dr. Bernardo de León, asserted that the lot at the corner of Kabihasnan Street and Coastal Road

1131-561: The most famous stage pickpocket of all time, became the highest-paid European performer in circuses during the 1950s. For 60 years he was billed as "the King of Pickpockets" and encouraged his son, Charly, to follow in his cunning trade, his offspring being billed as "the Prince of Pickpockets". Henri Kassagi , a French-Tunisian illusionist, acted as technical advisor on Robert Bresson 's 1959 film Pickpocket and appeared as instructor and accomplice to

1170-441: The pickpockets took the item. This means that the theft was, in such cases, not premeditated. However, some pickpockets did work as a gang, in which cases they planned thefts, even though they could not be sure of what they would get ( Defoe 's Moll Flanders gives several examples of how pickpockets worked as a team or on their own, when the eponymous character becomes a thief out of need). The prosecutions against pickpockets at

1209-483: The police implementing the demolition order were also injured. The incident led to condemnation against the police by Anak Mindanao Party Representative Mujiv Hataman . In early comments after the incident, the police stated that no one had died. After the incident, the Philippine Reclamation Authority, and Pasay Mayor Wenceslao Trinidad , continued to state that they would pursue plans to relocate

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1248-439: The relocation. On 18 November 2009, Muslim residents violently clashed with Pasay city police who were attempting to enforce the demolition order. Roughly 170 shanties were destroyed without incident, but among roughly 300 residents who had sought refuge in the mosque, some began throwing stones at police. The police responded with gunfire, killing three residents including a seven-year-old boy, and injuring another seven. Nine of

1287-484: The site, planning to begin demolition work. Some residents took refuge in the mosque; others went out to confront the demolition team and threw stones at them, leading police to respond by beating them with truncheons; furthermore, some residents set fire to their own homes as the demolitions proceeded. The demolitions were completed by noon, leaving 800 people homeless. Some evicted residents even appealed to Auxiliary Bishop of Manila Broderick Pabillo for help in delivering

1326-453: The theft and were not taken seriously by the court. In the eyes of British law, pickpocketing was considered a capital offence from 1565 on: this meant that it was punishable by hanging. However, for the crime to be considered as a capital offence, the stolen item had to be worth more than 12 pennies, otherwise it was considered to be petty larceny , which meant that the thief would not be hanged. The 18th century law also stated that only

1365-436: The thief could be prosecuted—any accomplice or receiver of the stolen item could not be found guilty of the crime: "This meant that, if two people were indicted together, and there was not clear proof as to which one made the final act of taking, neither should be found guilty". Moreover, in order to be able to prosecute someone for pickpocketing, the victim of the theft had to not be aware that they were being robbed. In 1782,

1404-422: The time, so they were considered responsible for being robbed. The other reason is that it was considered bad for a man to mix with a prostitute, which is why in many cases there was no prosecution: the victim was too ashamed of admitting that he had been with a prostitute. In those cases, since the jury was often inclined to despise the prosecutor and to side with the defendant, when they did not completely acquit

1443-494: The world of this underground art." According to Thomas Blacke, an American illusionist who holds several world records, it has become more difficult nowadays to pickpocket both in the streets and on the stage because the general population wears less, or lighter, clothing. In 2015 an artist hired a pickpocket to distribute sculptures at Frieze Art Fair in New York. Pickpocketing often requires different levels of skill, relying on

1482-517: Was actually in Barangay San Dionisio, and belonged to his family after he had inherited it in 1984. Parañaque Mayor Florencio Bernabe countered that the property had actually been handed over to the city government in payment of back taxes. The lot had been an object of a dispute as far back as 1992, when Public Estate Authority security guards entered the compound and destroyed improvements made by De León and his family. On 24 September 2013,

1521-556: Was topped by an onion dome , had a main room that contained four, 25-foot tall columns; the walls still showing exposed iron rebar . It was at the heart of a Muslim squatter community, whose size is estimated at 5,000 people. In April 2005, a fire destroyed 170 houses in the squatter community, leaving two children dead. The mosque was across the Catholic National Shrine of Our Mother of Perpetual Help ; Los Angeles Times writer Richard C. Paddock used this contrast between

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