Netherlands: 'No erotic centre' - Sex workers in Amsterdam to protest changes to red light district

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Hundreds of sex workers and activists from Amsterdam’s red light district protested on Thursday against the city council's new policies that demand moving the 249 window brothels in De Wallen to a new location and altering its closing times. Footage shows protesters marching through the streets against the city council's decisions while wearing masks and chanting ‘no erotic closing times, no erotic centre’. Addressing the angry protesters, the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema, assured the protesters she was ‘'listening to their demands' and 'taking their worries seriously'. "The city council is deliberating and discussing the erotic centre. I am aware of your worries. We have already made an appointment to talk to each other more in the coming weeks," said the mayor of Amsterdam, Femke Halsema. The city council suggested changing the closing times of the district on weekends to 3 am instead of 6 am and moving the business to a new location they call the erotic centre. The decision was taken to make the city centre more liveable and reduce unruly tourists and criminality. According to local media, the Dutch capital's administration had been considering moving brothels out of its historic red light district for years to limit the impact of mass tourism on residents.

Source: Ruptly