Chinese sex workers protest against crackdown
By Tania Branigan
03-Aug-2010
Ministry of Public Security has ordered police to stop such activity
Demonstrators in central Hubei province call for legalisation of prostitution and better treatment of women suspects
(Beijing) A crackdown on China's fast-growing sex industry has prompted a backlash, with sex workers demonstrating for the legalisation of prostitution and an outcry about the treatment of women suspects.
The protest in Wuhan, central Hubei province, is thought to have been the first of its kind in the country. The small group of women asked onlookers to sign a petition calling for an end to discrimination against sex workers and the scrapping of anti-prostitution laws.
"Our society has many problems that are neglected by the public and prostitution is one of them," Ye Haiyan, the activist and sex worker at the forefront of last week's demonstration, said today.