Rootless people

The other night I was made to stop by an uproar and a pathetic wailing of some young children outside my residential hall. When I went to the spot, I found the little possessions of some homeless people who were living on the footpath around Dhaka University and BUET campus lying scattered while a few women were shouting at the top of their voice and a couple of young panic-stricken shivering children letting out heart-rendering cry which made air heavy on that chilly night. I saw a micro-bus parked beside with a line “Proctorial team, University of Dhaka” stuck to its back and came to know that it was a drive meant to eradicate the rootless people occupying the university footpath making the place look dirty. Some people were justifying the drive saying that those footpath-dwellers were involved in illicit activities and responsible for making the area untidy. I knew that the accusation of the people was not baseless and the university authorities had the right to do what they did in terms of law. But from a human viewpoint how and who can justify an action that threw a number of poor creatures including a couple of innocent kids out of 'their home' on that biting and bone-shivering cold midnight? The two children were too panic-stricken and cold-beaten to cry normally. The sight was pathetic enough to make even an iron-hearted to have sympathy for those children.
I don't say that the University shouldn't do what they did, but they could adopt a different way. Actually, rootless people like those have to face the similar treatment everywhere in the city. True, at times such eradication drive becomes the only option, yet can we not think of rehabilitating those poor people before we show our power on them? Aren't they human beings? Don't they have any right to lead at least a simple life?