LOOK: Homeless Children Caged To Keep Streets Of Manila Clean For The Papal Visit

Street kids as young as five are being locked up in brutal detention centers alongside adult criminals in a cynical drive to keep the streets of Philippines capital clean for a visit by Pope Francis this week.

Angel, a 13 year old little girl clad only in a flimsy dress, was chained to a post in the RAC detention centre and left there crying.

Hundreds of boys and girls have been rounded up from doorways and roadsides by police and officials and put behind bars in recent weeks to make the poverty-racked city more presentable when Pope Francis arrives on Thursday, a MailOnline investigation has found.

A Mail Online investigation has uncovered the horrendous conditions the children are kept in, with many of them beaten, or tied to poles. This picture of a starving 11-year-old led to protests against the centres - but nothing has changed

The youngsters, who can be kept in the centres for months, are exposed to abuse and exploitation by older children and adults

Mail Online discovered dozens of street children caged in horrendous conditions alongside adult criminals in Manila, where a senior official admitted there had been an intensive round-up by police and government workers to make sure they are not seen by Pope Francis.

There are roughly six million people are expected to gather in an open air mass conducted by Pope Francis in Manila’s Rizal Park on Sunday, which will be watched by a global TV audience and officials appear determined to ensure that urchins are hidden from view.