The windows of the brothels in the red light district of Amsterdam will be closed and an “erotic center” will be installed far from the city center, councilors agreed.
A proposal by the town’s mayor, Femke Halsema, to close a significant number of windows in the narrow alleys around the docks was supported by a broad group of political parties.
Sex workers in the red light district of De Wallen will be 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 long lobbied for the closing of the windows and now have the support of the VVD, the Dutch Prime Minister’s party, Mark Rutte, as well as the Labor Party and the Greens.
“This is a reconfiguration of Amsterdam as a city of visitors,” said Dennis Boutkan of the Dutch Labor Party. The CDA’s Diederik Boomsma said: “Tourists are welcome to enjoy the beauty and freedom of the city, but not at any cost. We have to intervene firmly. “
Halsema argued that the brothel’s windows should be closed, as the women who worked in the area had become a tourist attraction, attracting rumors and abuse.
When the idea was first proposed, a newly formed lobby group called Red Light United said that 90% of the 170 female sex workers surveyed wanted to work in the windows of the narrow alleys and streets near the Singel and De Wallen channels.
A member of the group, known by the pseudonym Foxxy, told the newspaper Het Parool at the time: “Changing these workplaces is not an option because that way clients will not know where to find sex workers. Will Halsema sometimes also organizes bus trips to Westelijk Havengebied [a district north of the city centre]? “
However, most councilors agreed that relocation was necessary to change the type of tourists attracted to Amsterdam.
A second proposal to ban tourists from buying cannabis in the city’s cafes is struggling to gain support due to fears that it will hand over trade to dealers on the streets.
The city’s governing coalition parties – the liberal D66 party, the Greens, the Labor and the Socialist Party – have expressed serious doubts about the mayor’s plans, according to Het Parool.
“I fear an increase in the use of unhealthy drugs among visitors and the impact of street commerce on our young people,” said Alexander Hammelburg of D66.