London prostitutes ‘cleaned from the streets’
UK: The London Olympics are not big business for everyone --
sex workers say they are being cleared from the streets around the
stadium to make the area more presentable for the Games. While Britain’s
limp economy hopes for an Olympic boost, police in Newham, the deprived
east London borough that is home to the stadium, have closed some 80
brothels in the 18 months to March, according to a study by a local
councillor.
“For the last two years we’ve seen a real increase in police activity
in relation to sex work in the Olympic host boroughs,” said Georgina
Perry, who runs Open Doors, a government project supporting east London
prostitutes.
“Some of the women who sell sex have experienced so many brothel
closures that they are now working on the street, and that is a much
less safe place,” she told AFP.
“Street women are experiencing a lot of police requests for them to
move on from the area. They’re not wanted there during the Olympic
Games.” The expected influx of two million visitors for the Olympics has
led Prime Minister David Cameron to predict a 13 billion ($20.2 billion,
16.3 billion euro) boost for the economy over the next four years.
But the sex trade looks likely to miss out on any benefits,
campaigners say.
Prostitution is legal in Britain, but keeping a brothel is outlawed,
as are other related activities such as curb-crawling.
London’s Metropolitan Police have denied that the brothel raids were
connected to the Olympics, saying they were “in response to community
concerns”.
“Any police activity regarding prostitution has been undertaken as
part of normal policing responsibilities,” a police spokeswoman told AFP.
But London’s mayor Boris Johnson openly supports a crackdown on the
sex trade ahead of the Olympics.
AFP |