The Amsterdam mayor’s project to move the famous Red Light District to an “erotic center” in the suburbs has sparked a confrontation with neighbors and sex workers, fiercely opposed to this change.
Hundreds of suburbanites, opposed to having “a huge brothel” set up next to their homes, joined protests by girls who want to stay behind the scarlet neon-lit windows near downtown canals.
The protagonist is the mayor Femke Halsema, who defends her plan, but fails to convince. “It’s not possible,” says a mother crying after a meeting between the mayor and the residents of one of the three places planned to create the erotic center. Residents fear the riot will reach their streets.
For their part, the sex workers consider themselves the scapegoat of the mayoress in her attempt to control crime and mass tourism in the city center. “The mayor says we’re just a tourist attraction and people come to make fun of us and humiliate us, but that’s not the case,” says Michelle.
A mecca for legal prostitution, Amsterdam is trying to shed its “sin city” image and cut back on party tourism. “There will always be resistance, regardless of which solution is chosen,” says Halsema, who has been heavily criticized.
In March, sex workers demonstrated with banners reading “Save the Red Light District.” They affirm that if they displace him, his activity and security will be affected. The lawsuit involved the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which in 2019, after Brexit, left London, strongly opposed to two proposed sites being close to its new headquarters.
the 100 proposed places will not be enough, compared to the 250 booths that there are now. But with its spaces for culture, art and erotic fun, the building could benefit some. The Red Light District only represents a “small part” of the prostitution here, stressed Alexander de Vos, a former gay sex worker present at a meeting between the mayor and citizens of Amsterdam. “There are also transgender and gay people for whom there is no place and this center offers them a chance.”
He says he is against the closure of the neighborhood, subject to increasingly restrictive measures: brothels must close earlier on weekends and the Dry Law will be extended to cannabis. Amsterdam has also launched an online campaign to discourage young Europeans from staging bachelor parties or other festive activities in the city.
Denouncing a “witch hunt”, sex workers claim that displacing them will impact their profits without solving the problem, and deny that they are the cause of mass tourism and crime.
The neighborhood is full of signs with everything that is not authorized, emphasizes Michelle. “The problem is that no one is fined and the residents know where they settled because prostitution has existed since the 16th century.”
Afp
