By Gudrun Schultz
COLOGNE, Germany, May 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Germany has banned all journalists from photographing or videotaping within the city’s drive-in brothel zone, threatening prosecution for failure to heed the warning.
“This zone is owned by the city of Cologne and is not considered a public street,” said Robert Kilp, the head of the city’s public affairs department. “Anyone filming or taking pictures there will be liable to prosecution. Prostitutes are having sexual intercourse in cars there, it is not a good thing to be filming,” reported the Guardian May 3.
The drive-in brothel project was initiated by the German Catholic Woman’s Welfare Service, the “Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen” (SKF), in opposition to the Catholic Church’s clear condemnation of prostitution.Â
SKF spokeswoman Anne Rossbach referred to the area as a “social project”, saying it was not a tourist scheme. The fenced-off compound contains garage-type structures known as “performance boxes”, where clients can drive in and meet waiting prostitutes. The city of Cologne funds the project with some 480,000 Euros per year.
Just prior to the media ban, prostitutes were complaining about business interruptions and lost clients due to the media presence.Â
Of the decision to ban the media, Mr. Kilp said “[The] drive-in brothel project is trying to protect girls and keep them off drugs and we do not want to scare them away.”
Despite attempts to present the “project” as a safety benefit to the women involved, the German authorities’ eagerness to accommodate the World Cup crowds by dramatically increasing the capacity of the area, constructing large-scale brothels and importing up to 40,000 additional sex-trade workers, has suggested a motivation more concerned with profit than with protection.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
German Government Blasted for Facilitating Massive Prostitution at World Cup in Berlin
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050108.html
Official Catholic Church Women’s Group Involved in Legal Prostitution Scheme in Germany
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06050408.html