Sex workers insist they want to live in “Wallen” red light district
Amsterdam:
The atmosphere was tense as residents confronted Amsterdam’s mayor over a controversial plan to move legal prostitution from the city’s historic red light district to a suburban “erotic hub”.
At a meeting hall in the city’s south, hundreds of angry locals who didn’t want a “mega brothel” on their doorstep found themselves unexpectedly on the same side as sex workers who wanted to live in their red neon booths.
In the middle of the row is Famke Hulsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, who despite being branded a “brothel madam” by opponents is sticking to a plan that few people like.
“It’s not possible,” one mother said in tears at the meeting south of Amsterdam, near one of three sites Halsema proposed for the 100-room erotic centre.
An older resident wears two gold balloons saying “no” around his neck, while others in this nation of cyclists carry small flashing red bike lights as a sign of protest.
Sex workers, meanwhile, insist they want to live in the “Wallen” red light district, and are being used as scapegoats for complaints of crime, drunkenness and drug abuse in the area.
“The mayor says we are just a tourist attraction and people come and laugh at us,” a sex worker who gave her name as Michelle after the meeting told AFP. “It’s not like that.”
‘resistance’
The issue has turned into a battle for Amsterdam’s future, as it tries to shed its “sin city” image and reduce the impact of mass tourism, while still retaining its soul.
While any erotic center may take years to take shape, the municipality of Amsterdam aims to have a location in place by the end of 2023.
“There will always be protests, whatever solution we choose, there will always be resistance,” an exhausted Mayor Halsima told AFP after the meeting.
In March, dozens of sex workers wearing masks and carrying “Save the Red Light” banners confronted the mayor at City Hall, saying the plans would harm their livelihoods and were unsafe.
At the meeting Meyer was also accused of harming the Netherlands by driving away trade.
The row also includes the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which has strongly opposed the fact that two of the proposed sites are near its new headquarters in south Amsterdam, where it moved after Brexit.
But organizations like EMA “know what city they’re based in”, Halsima retorted.
The mayor said she was convinced the erotic center would not pose a threat and that sex workers would actually be safer.
The sex workers themselves oppose it.
“If you’re already inside that’s fine, but you have to go out with your earnings,” Mitchell said.
She also argued that the 100 booths for sex workers in the erotic center were far less than the 250 in the red light district.
But, with its spaces dedicated to leisure, arts, culture and “erotic” entertainment, the planned center could be beneficial for some, as long as the aim is not to close the red light district entirely, she said.
‘witch hunt’
Amsterdam’s red light district is only a “small part” of prostitution in the Dutch capital, says Alexander de Vos, a former sex worker who attended the meeting.
There are also trans and gay “sex workers” who “have no place, and this center offers them an alternative,” he told AFP.
“But I do not support closing the red light district.”
De Vos was one of the sex workers who recently protested against the plans in Amsterdam and increasingly restrictive measures in Wallen.
Brothels must now close earlier on weekends, while Amsterdam also recently announced a ban on smoking cannabis – which can be bought in Amsterdam’s equally famous coffee shops – in the red light district.
Amsterdam also recently launched a “Stay Away” campaign aimed at young British men planning a “wild” weekend in the city.
But opponents say the measures are a “witch hunt”, and have argued for years that outlawing prostitution would affect their livelihoods without solving the problems of crime-ridden neighbourhoods.
The red light district is “strewn with signs of everything that is prohibited”, Mitchell said. “The problem is that no one gets fined. It would be a good start if municipalities would actually enforce the existing rules.”
He said residents of Wallen – a center of prostitution since the 16th century – “know where they are living”.
Sex workers were also skeptical of the mayor’s sweeping claims of making Amsterdam more livable for its residents, as the city struggles with over-tourism and a housing shortage.
“It’s very safe here, very well organized, why fix what ain’t broke?” asked Michelle.
“It sounds like it’s a plan for gentrification.”
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)