Landlords scoff at gentrification plan to move professionals into red-light areas
Parading arrested prostitutes and their clients through the streets is an 'effective way' to combat the illegal sex trade, a Shenzhen official said yesterday.
Xu Desen , party secretary of Shenzhen's Futian district, told officials and representatives of local landlords that the government would no longer tolerate the illegal sex trade in any form. He said the government planned to spend 500 million yuan over the next two years turning vice areas into hi-tech and cultural centres.
His remarks follow a public outcry last week over the way Shenzhen police treated arrested prostitutes and men who hired them during recent anti-vice raids. The officers dressed those arrested in bright yellow and paraded them through the streets wearing masks. Their names, ages and places of origin were then read out in public.
'The public parade [of prostitutes and their clients] has proved to be very effective in improving local neighbourhood safety and the general environment. It has turned a bad thing into a good thing,' Mr Xu said.
The district party secretary praised the police actions against nightclubs and underground brothels in the district and said the crackdown would continue.