Crackdowns on street workers Archives - English Collective of Prostitutes

22nd January 2020

Ilford Recorder: ‘A complete disgrace’: National activist group blasts Redbridge Council’s Ilford Lane prostitution crackdown

Redbridge Council’s efforts to reduce prostitution are a “complete disgrace” that will endanger vulnerable women, an activist group has warned. The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECOP) has claimed that a £20,000 trial to change the mindset and behaviour of those soliciting sex will only force sex workers into more dangerous situations. The trial, announced earlier […]

28th March 2017

Vice: Hull’s ‘prostitution free’ zone isn’t going to stop the local sex trade

The residents, sex workers and activists I spoke to told me it’s only going to force everything into a new area. “Sam”, a sex worker on Hull’s Hessle Road Last week, Hull City Council won a landmark ruling to create Britain’s first “prostitution-free zone”. The new orders mean that any sex workers or curb crawlers caught […]

4th July 2016

Vice: Sex workers in Hackney can’t get support unless the police are involved

By Frankie Mullin “When I first came to Open Doors I was picked up off the street by a drugs worker. I was wearing shoes without any soles,” says K, who suffers from a range of health problems but now describes her life as “harmonised”. “When I first met Open Doors, I was homeless, in […]

4th July 2016

Hackney Citizen: National charity warns of ‘seismic shift towards criminalisation’ of Hackney’s sex workers

Sophie Hemery Sex workers are increasingly subject to enforcement by police and local authorities in the form of dispersal orders, fines and prosecution. At a focus group on street sex workers’ health, Angelica is a natural orator. She is funny and passionate, and shares her life’s successes and struggles with hard-won conviction. At almost 60 […]

9th June 2016

Vice: London’s Romanian sex workers are worried that Brexit would screw them

By Margaret Corvid From the column ‘Europe: The Final Countdown’ Sex workers’ rights marching in Soho in 2014 (Photo by Jake Lewis) Against the backdrop of the EU referendum campaign, London-based Romanian women sex workers are using EU law to challenge the police and fight for their rights.   Under Operation Nexus, the Met are monitoring […]

1st May 2016

Guardian: Romanian sex workers challenge UK immigration policy

Women targeted by Operation Nexus, which aims to deport foreign offenders, say they are legitimately self-employed Although freedom of movement is guaranteed within the EU, the right to stay after three months is dependent on new arrivals working or studying. A policy aimed at deporting “high-harm” EU-national criminals and those not entitled to remain in […]

19th November 2015

Action Alert: Write to demand loitering charges are dropped

ACTION ALERT . . . ACTION ALERT . . . . ACTION ALERT . . . ACTION ALERT . . . CALL/ WRITE TO THE CPS ASKING FOR THE CHARGES TO BE DROPPED (details below). POLICE SHOULD BE PROTECTING WOMEN FROM VIOLENCE NOT PROSECUTING US FOR PROSTITUTION. On Friday 20th November 2015, Ms MP faces […]

27th July 2015

BBC Wales: Toleration zones

Newport prostitutes plan must ‘not turn city into Amsterdam’ The plans follow a similar pilot scheme in the north of England A part of Newport which is being earmarked as a designated area for prostitutes should not become like Amsterdam, an MP has warned. Gwent Police is considering plans to have a non-residential area of Pill for […]

10th March 2015

Coventry Telegraph: Stop police crackdowns

By Sam Dimmer ‘It’s not rocket science – it’s just consensual sex between adults’ As police in Coventry continue their seemingly never-ending battle with sex workers and their clients in the city’s red light district campaign groups are calling for a radical change in tactics. They believe that crackdowns like Operation Scarlet – the name for police efforts […]

6th March 2015

Vice: Prostitute Cautions cause injustice

by Frankie Mullin in Vice A sex worker on Hull’s Hessle Road (Photo by Ryan Fletcher) According to a new study, seven in ten UK sex workers previously worked in care jobs. The research, carried out by Leeds University, revealed that 71 percent of those surveyed had left health, social care, education, childcare or charity roles to […]