Amsterdam to ‘clean up’ city centre

Amsterdam unveiled plans on Saturday to close up to half of the famed brothels and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major clean-up operation. Read on...

Amsterdam unveiled plans on Saturday to close up to half of the famed brothels and marijuana cafes in its ancient city center as part of a major clean-up operation. The city says it wants to drive organized crime out of the district, and is targeting businesses that “generate criminality,” including prostitution, gambling parlours, “smart shops” that sell herbal treatments, head shops and “coffee shops” where marijuana is sold openly.

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“I think that 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.

The city said it would also reduce the number of business it sees as related to the “decay” of the center, including peep shows, sex theaters, sex shops, mini supermarkets, massage parlours and souvenir shops.

The city said there were too many of these and it believes some are used for money-laundering by drug dealers and the human traffickers who supply many of the city’s prostitutes. Asscher underlined that the city will remain true to its freewheeling reputation.

“It’ll be a place with 200 windows (for prostitutes) and 30 coffee shops, which you can’t find anywhere else in the world — very exciting, but also with cultural attractions and you won’t have to be embarrassed to say you came,” he said.

Amsterdam already had plans to close many brothels and said last month it might close some coffee shops throughout the city, but the plans go much further.