THE famous “window” brothels of Amsterdam are under threat after the city council refused to renew 33 licences in a crackdown against organised crime.

The clampdown may spell an end to the sight of scantily clad women displayed in the neon lights of the street windows, beckoning to customers. Now a tourist attraction, the alleyways have been a magnet for prostitutes and their clients since the 17th century.

The city council says that the enforced closures are the result of suspected money laundering in the red light district.

Human rights groups have hailed the move as recognition that some brothels are involved in crimes such as people trafficking.

Claims of links to organised crime are fiercely denied by the nine brothel owners facing the loss of their lucrative enterprises. They will challenge the council’s decision in court on January 19.

Twenty of the buildings and 60 of the “windows” are owned by “Fat” Charlie Geerts, a Dutch porn baron, who has been a big player in the red light district for more than a decade.

Last week Han Jahae, his lawyer, said previous investigations had proved that Geerts had no connections with criminal activities and that the council’s information was wrong and out of date. “Basing such drastic action on information this old is totally unreasonable,” he said.

The closures are also being fought by Red Thread, the prostitutes’ union, which says women could be forced onto the streets if the windows are shut down.

Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who runs the Prostitution Information Centre, said the crackdown would hurt women who worked legally as independent contractors renting space in the windows.

“There are lots of benefits from working in a window brothel,” she said. “It is a thousand times better than being in an illegal brothel or working on the street.”

Lodewijk Asscher, the deputy mayor, emphasised that the council wanted to eradicate crime rather than target prostitution. Despite the legalisation of brothels in 2000, Asscher said he remained “very worried” by the number of cases of trafficking in women.

“If we legalise prostitution then we have an obligation to fight money laundering and the trafficking of women,” he said. “If we don’t protect the women then it’s not really tolerance but indifference.”

The Christian Democrats and the Christian Union party, both expected to form part of the the new governing coalition, want even tougher measures.

Jacob Pot, the Christian Union adviser on justice policy, said his party’s position reflected a new outlook in Holland. “I think more people today see that prostitution is abnormal, whatever the legalisation of brothels suggests,” he said.

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