Beg pardon??

A Lancashire police force put a message on Facebook concerning beggars in a local town centre,  It read
"We would like to remind people not to give money to the males who sit next to Wilkinson's in Burnley town centre.  Begging is an offence and quite often causes upset to the elderly people going to and from their vehicles.  It only encourages them to keep sitting there and not make any effort to work, thank you."
And then a little while later a subsequent message read
"We have removed the last post we made about begging in Burnley Town Centre.  We clearly could have chosen our words better on this one and whilst we never set out to offend anyone if we have on this occasion we're sorry. Thanks."
So, am I missing something?  What was wrong with the first message?  Just who was offended - other than possibly the beggars?  The police didn't explain their change of heart, so I remain somewhat baffled.