New municipal party leader sees end to ‘Walletjes’

AMSTERDAM - Lodewijk Ascher, the new Labour Party leader in municipal council, wants to rid the city of its red light district as a tourist attraction. In his recent book about ‘New Amsterdam,’ Ascher asks people to consider that prostitution in the district is run by a small group of criminals, while the women often are forced into it by so-called ‘lover boys.’ Rather than continuing this abuse of women, the prostitutes should be encouraged to ply their trade in sanctioned and controlled brothels, and other such operations. Ascher (31) sees ‘New Amsterdam’ by the year 2020 as a hybrid of New York and Old Europe: Dynamic and energetic, cosmopolitan and tolerant, and with good social services and a deep-rooted solidarity.