Extra whitespace introduced when command is split across multiple lines

[codervivek]

Consider the following config:

<cops>
  name stein\
  son
  age  25
  <colors>
    color \#000000\
    white
  </colors>
</cops>

The parser produces the following output:
{'cops': {'name': 'stein son', 'age': '25', 'colors': {'color': '#000000 white'}}}

I don't want the extra whitespace between stein and son or betweem #000000 and white. Is there a way by which we can get the parsed output without the extra whitespaces?