The brothel windows of the red light district in Amsterdam will be closed and an ‘erotic center’ will be built near the city center, aldermen have agreed.
A proposal by Mayor Femke Halsema to close a significant number of windows in the narrow alleys around the port was supported by a wide range of political parties.
The sex workers in the red light district De Wallen are invited to move to a purpose-built center elsewhere in Amsterdam, the location of which has yet to be determined.
The CDA and ChristenUnie have lobbied for a long time to close the windows and are now supported by the VVD, the party of the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, as well as the PvdA and the Greens.
“This is about a reset of Amsterdam as a visitor city”, says Dennis Boutkan of the Dutch PvdA. Diederik Boomsma of the CDA: “Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city, but not at any price. We must act decisively. “
Halsema had argued that the brothel windows should be closed because women working in the area had become a tourist attraction, attracting yawning and assault.
When the idea was first proposed, a newly formed lobby group called Red Light United claimed that 90% of the 170 female sex workers it surveyed wanted to work in front of the windows in the narrow alleys and canals along Singel and De Wallen.
A member of the group, under the pseudonym Foxxy, told Het Parool at the time: “Relocating those workplaces is not an option, because then the customers do not know where to find the sex workers. Will Halsema sometimes organizes bus trips to the Western Docklands for them [a district north of the city centre]? “
However, the majority of municipal councilors agreed that the move was necessary to change the type of tourists who flock to Amsterdam.
A second proposal to ban tourists from buying cannabis in the city’s cafes is struggling to gain support for fear it will turn the trade over to street dealers.
The parties in the city’s government coalition – the liberal D66 party, the Greens, PvdA and the Socialist party – have expressed serious doubts about the mayor’s plans, according to Het Parool.
“I fear an increase in unhealthy drug use among visitors and the impact of street trade on our young people,” said Alexander Hammelburg of the D66.