Moroccan village divided over 'Islamists' driving out prostitutes
Moroccan village divided over 'Islamists' standing up and driving out the ladies of the night, which left the local economy in free fall
For years, the Moroccan mountain village of Ain Leuh with its crumbling whitewashed walls was known locally as the place to go for sex.
Women - some dressed in tight jogging suits, some in dressing gowns - dallied in tiled doorways off the main square, offering a dusty version of Amsterdam's red-light district.
But no more. A band of men, known as the Islamists, took matters into their own hands last autumn. The men deny that they were on a religious campaign, or that they are fanatics.
They were tired, they said, of living side by side with drunken, brawling clients, tired of having their daughters propositioned as they headed home from school, tired of being embarrassed about where they lived.
"It reached a point after Ramadan," said Mohammed Aberbach, 41, who helped organise the campaign to drive the prostitutes out of town, "that men were actually waiting in lines. It was crazy".
These days the side streets are quiet. The doors, painted green and yellow, are mostly shut, although a few prostitutes remain, now trying to sell candy instead of sex.