towards an easing of repression?
Many prostitutes live in the La Plaine des Jeux district of Gerland. A situation denounced by elected officials.
A decision that made everyone agree. The municipal council of Lyon voted this Thursday a subsidy of 35,000 euros to the Cabiria association, which accompanies prostitutes. But this vote has revived a debate on the location of sex workers, in particular that of those installed in vans in the La Plaine des Jeux district of Gerland (7th arrondissement of Lyon).
If a lot of work has been done in this place, this is explained by the municipal decrees taken since the beginning of the 2000s, when Gérard Collomb was then mayor of the city, to sanction the vans of prostitutes. These measures have gradually driven sex workers out of the city center, and in particular towards this district of the 7th arrondissement.
An “unacceptable” situation for parents
Or, the parking lots where the prostitutes have settled are located near land used daily by children. A worrying situation for many parents who launched a petition to ask the town hall of Lyon “to act quickly by putting an end to this situation for the protection and safety of children”.
“They want there to be quick solutions, especially on this Gerland site, which welcomes many children. It is the sporting lung of the city of Lyon with many associations, it is unacceptable for children to take the risk to meet any trafficker”, commented Yann Cucherat, opposition municipal councilor, president of the group “For Lyon”, at the microphone of BFM Lyon.
“We do not treat pimping with decrees”
Among the majority too, the location of prostitutes is debated. For Sandrine Runel, deputy mayor of Lyon in charge of solidarity and social inclusion EELV, the municipal decrees have sent sex workers “into lawless areas, which are neither enlightened nor protected” and have moved away “from the areas of intervention of professional associations which support people in vulnerable situations and who want to get out of prostitution”.
“We do not deal with pimping, nor the human slavery of these people, with parking ban orders,” she hammered into our microphone.
Faced with the anger of parents, the city council voted in September to build a green screen around the sports grounds of the Plaine des Jeux de Gerland which could no longer expose young people to insecurity and the practices of prostitutes. An operation whose cost would amount to 850,000 euros.