The mayor of Amsterdam has come under fire from neighborhood residents over a divisive proposal to relocate legal prostitution from the city’s famed red-light district to a suburban “adult center.”
Hundreds of irate neighbors who opposed a “mega-brothel” on their doorstep found themselves siding with sex workers who desired to remain in their red neon booths at a meeting hall south of the city. Femke Halsema, the mayor of Amsterdam, is caught in the middle and is adhering to a plan that not many seem to support despite being called a “brothel madame” by opponents.
To close down the current red-light area, which is the subject of accusations of crime, intoxication, and drug misuse, Halsema has suggested three places for a 100-room erotic center in the south of the city.
Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema is sticking to a plan that few seem to like, despite being branded a “brothel madame” by opponents.
But sex workers insist they want to remain in the Wallen red-light district – which has been a hub of prostitution since the 16th century – and say they are being used as scapegoats.
