AMSTERDAM'S BROTHELS AND CANNABIS CAFES FURIOUS OVER MAYOR'S 'CLEAN-UP'

Dissent Grows Over A Planned Crackdown On Prostitution And Drugs Aimed
At Curbing Organised Crime In The Red-Light District

Amsterdam has long been famed for its relaxed approach to prostitution
and soft drugs, making the Dutch city one of the most popular
destinations for tens of thousands of Britons on stag and hen parties.

But all that may be about to change. As part of a major 'clean-up' of
the city centre, the local authorities yesterday unveiled plans to
close half of the brothels and the little coffee shops where cannabis
can be bought and smoked, prompting warnings that they will cost the
city dear as visitors head elsewhere.

Although prostitution has been legal for eight years, and possession
of small amounts of drugs has long been tolerated, the latest moves
mark an escalation in the culture wars in a country that many of its
people believe has become too liberal.

At the heart of the new initiative is the city's drive against the
organised crime that it claims gravitates to the areas with high
concentrations of 'coffee shops', brothels and the 'windows' where
women advertise themselves.

While Amsterdam has long been held up as a model of the argument in
favour of the legalisation of soft drugs and the sex trade, its
critics counter that the windows and coffee shops mask the violent
reality of organised crime. 'By reduction and zoning of these kinds of
functions, we will be able to manage and tackle the criminal
infrastructure better,' the city said in a statement.

Opponents of the clean-up - including coffee-shop owners and the
prostitutes' union, De Rode Draad (Red Thread), which represents
20,000 Dutch prostitutes - told The Observer yesterday that they
believed that, far from reducing crime, it would encourage drug
dealers and prostitutes to go underground in areas where they were
banned

They also warned that the new clampdown on drugs and the sex industry
would have a profound effect on the economics of a city famous for
both things. 'Amsterdam is the city of sex and drugs and rock 'n'
roll,' said Metje Blaak, a spokeswoman for De Rode Draad, which
provides health screening and other training for its members

'Now we have no sex. No drugs. The women will go on the streets and to
the hotels. It is very bad, not least in terms of women's health and
safety. The mayor has not listened to the women or the coffee shops,'
she added.

She also blamed the European Union for pressurising Holland into
tightening its laws. 'Once we were a free country,' she said. 'Now
they tell us what to do.'

Prostitution will now be permitted in only two areas, including De
Wallen (The Walls) - a web of streets and alleys around the city's
medieval retaining dam walls. The area has been a centre of
prostitution since before the city's golden shipping age in the 17th
century.

The city said yesterday it would offer retraining to prostitutes and
coffee-shop employees who lost their jobs.

'Money laundering, extortion and human trafficking are things you do
not see, but they are hurting people and the city. The new reality
will be more in line with our image as a tolerant and crazy place,
rather than a free zone for criminals,' said Alderman Lodewijk
Asscher, one of the main proponents of the plan. 'We can still have
sex and drugs, but in a way that shows the city is in control.

'It'll be a place with 200 windows and 30 coffee shops, which you
can't find anywhere else in the world - very exciting, but also with
cultural attractions. You won't have to be embarrassed to say you
came,' he said.

Merlijn Boshuizen of Plan A, one of the biggest organisers of stag and
hen trips to the city, is not convinced. 'We have had 7,000 people,
mainly from the UK and Ireland, this year. This is won't be good for
tourism. People come here because of the drugs and the windows.'

The coffee-shop owners and workers are as sceptical of the new
clampdown as De Rode Draad and Boshuizen. Although cannabis is
technically illegal in the Netherlands, prosecutors do not press
charges for possession of small amounts and the coffee shops are able
to sell it openly. However, in the last year, authorities in Amsterdam
and elsewhere have subjected the coffee shops to ever-more stringent
checks.

'Marco', owner of the Rastababy Cafe in Prins Hendrikkade, near the
city's Centraal Station, said yesterday: 'It is really shitty. We want
to make money and they want to close us down. The city will lose
money. People come here for the coffee shops. To smoke.'

The same dismay was evident at the Reefer Cafe in St
Antoniesbreestraat, not far from the Rembrandt Museum, where patrons
can buy a pre-rolled 'White Widow' spliff for ?3, or a muffin laced
with skunk resin.