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Madrid stamps out prostitution
30/03/2004 20:37 - (SA)
Madrid - Madrid city council has mounted a large-scale operation to gradually eradicate prostitution from the centre of the Spanish capital, reports said on Tuesday.
Some 20 police are patrolling Montera Street, located near the Puerta del Sol square, where dozens of prostitutes offer their services.
Practically all the women are illegal immigrants, mainly from Latin America and eastern Europe.
Police ask prostitutes, their clients and potential pimps to show their identity documents. Foreign pimps will be expelled, city officials said.
Prostitutes who are illegal immigrants will not be expelled, but they are offered psychological support and free flights back to their home countries.
Representatives of a non-governmental organisation have parked a van on Montera Street, offering prostitutes a way out of their situation.
Prostitutes who are legal residents in Spain are offered a chance to find other jobs. Illegals who denounce their pimps will get residence permits.
Police are also controlling hotels and hostels in the area where prostitution is practiced.
Madrid's conservative mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon intends to eradicate "sexual slavery", social affairs councillor Ana Botella said.
The majority of prostitutes working in Spain have been coerced into the job by criminal rings which lured them into the country. - Sapa-dpa
- SAPA
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