Hundreds of sex workers and residents of the north and south of Amsterdam demonstrated on Thursday against the city council’s plan to move prostitution from the famous red light district to an “erotic center” in the suburbs, according to AFP.

The crowd marched through the streets to City Hall, with dozens of protesters wearing masks to hide their identities, some holding signs reading “Save the Red Light District” and chanting “don’t save us, save our windows.”

By the end of the year, the city hall must make a decision on the lease of this controversial “erotic center”, which it justifies with the need to reduce the nuisance and crime associated with mass tourism and parties.

Outraged by the prospect of a “huge brothel” a stone’s throw from their homes, residents who live near three possible sites for the center, in the north and south of the city, have unexpectedly joined the protest of sex workers who want to stay behind their red neon storefront near the canals of the historic center .

“We’ve actually been protesting against the disappearance of the windows for 16 years,” explains Mariska Major, a former sex worker who advocates for the sector.

“In 2007, the reason (cited by the municipality) was to fight human trafficking and abuse, and now it’s to fight mass tourism,” she sighs.

The largest brothel in Europe

“We don’t want the biggest brothel in Europe to be in our neighborhood,” mother Cynthia Kurnijuls, 42, who lives in the south of the city, told AFP.

Even the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has been drawn into the dispute, which strongly opposes the fact that two of the proposed sites are located near its new headquarters in southern Amsterdam.

The Dutch capital, which is trying to shake off its “sin city” image, has also launched an online campaign to prevent young Europeans from holding stag parties or other celebrations in the city.