Dirty money

Prostitutes in Amsterdam's red light district ply their trade in street windows and the area's seediness has always been part of its attraction for tourists.
The Wallen, as the area is known in Dutch, is in one of the oldest and most picturesque areas of Amsterdam.

But the city's authorities say the windows are a magnet for crime and money laundering.
Mr Cohen said the move was not intended to get rid of prostitution entirely, since it is part of the area's history. "What we do want is to get rid of the underlying criminality," he said.

However, the plan was criticised by the Dutch sex workers' union De Rode Draad.
"We believe that less windows means more exploitation of women," said spokeswoman Metje Blaak.
"If the windows close down, women who are being exploited will be hidden somewhere else where union representatives and health workers can't make contact with them," she said.

Prostitutes hire the windows for around 100 euros for part of the day. One window is usually used by several prostitutes a day.

Outside the Casa Rosso theatre, large crowds are trying to get in to watch the live sex shows from red velvet seats. A few hundred meter down the street, an erotic museum is also busy. "Most people think the decision to close the windows is absurd," says the man at the door.

"We do not have to be proud of window prostitution," says former prostitute Mariska Majoor, who now runs Amsterdam's Prostitution Information Center. "But we should feel proud of the fact that here a person is free to be the person he or she wants to be and that the authorities do what they can to make everybody safe in this city."

Prostitution, she added, exists in every major city, in every country, in every part of the world. All that is different here is that it takes place in public - and that makes the women less vulnerable to exploitation and abuse.