A proposal to relocate Amsterdam’s red light district to an “erotic center” elsewhere in the city has received a green light.
Amsterdam city council voted last week to move the district – which has become a popular tourist attraction – after Mayor Femke Halsema argued that women who work in brothels are often ridiculed and abused by visitors, reports The Guardian .
Halsema has long wanted to protect De Wallen – the largest and most central red light district in Amsterdam – from the amazed eyes of tourists. In 2019, she proposed several possible changes, including closing brothels with a window facade, reducing the number of licenses given to brothel operators, with customers paying only to enter the alleys of the district or moving the entire district elsewhere.
Amsterdam’s latest proposal comes after previous initiatives to curb so-called “party” tourism and guided tours of the city’s red light district.
(Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images)
“Transferring prostitution is an option. We have not yet figured out how to do this, but we must dare to consider ending prostitution in the Red Light District,” she told the Dutch newspaper Het Parool in 2019.
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Representatives from all of the city’s political parties agreed last week, voting in favor or creating an “erotic center” outside central De Wallen. A new location has yet to be determined, but it will likely be far from any of Amsterdam’s other tourist attractions, reports The Guardian.
“This is a reconfiguration of Amsterdam as a city for visitors. Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city, but not at any cost,” said Dennis Boutkan of the Dutch Labor Party on the vote. last week, according to the vehicle.
Visitors flock to Amsterdam’s red light district after Dutch brothels were allowed to reopen in July after the coronavirus closed.
(Kenzo Tribouillard / AFP via Getty Images)
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Not everyone is so excited about the news, however. Red Light United, a coalition of more than 100 sex workers currently employed in De Wallen brothels, believes that this decision proves that “the mayor does not listen to us”. Representatives argue that the move will be “mostly an expensive fiasco for the city”, while doing little to ensure the livelihood of prostitutes who will need to move to a “largely empty erotic center”.
“This is a reconfiguration of Amsterdam as a city of visitors. Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city, but not at any cost,” Dennis Boutkan of the Dutch Labor Party said of the week’s vote last.
(Dean Mouhtaropoulos / Getty Images)
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News of the city council’s decision comes just weeks after Mayor Halsema presented a proposal to ban non-residents from buying marijuana products in the city’s marijuana-tolerant coffee shops, in an initiative that aims to deter foreign visitors from “light drug tourism” .