Sex workers to protest Red Light District cleanup

The association for sex workers PROUD has organized a demonstration against the closing of window brothels in Amsterdam on Thursday, when Project 1012 appears on the City Council Agenda. PROUD will hand a list of demands to Mayor Eberhard van der Laan. The demands include, among other things, the immediate suspension of the planned closures of prostitution around the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam. Project 1012's aim is to address abuses in prostitution by reducing the number of window brothels. "Nobody is helping us by taking away our workplaces. Sex work is a legal profession in the Netherlands, We need support and to be taken seriously by politicians. Instead we are treated as pariahs and pushed away from the Red Light District, without anyone asking us for our opinion." according to PROUD spokesperson Lyle Muns. "Project 1012 is an urban renewal project that goes over the heads of sex workers. Instead of supposedly rescuing prostitutes, it is time to listen to them. And what they say is: stay away from our workplaces!" Mariska Majoor, president of PROUD, states on the association's website. The demonstration will depart from the PIC on Ouderkerksplein, corner Enge Kerksteeg at 18:00 Thursday evening.