An earlier ECP protest calling out violence against sex workers 

THE police are failing to protect Soho sex workers from a disturbing social media trend, according to campaigners who are urging politicians to make legislative reforms to better protect women.

The English Collective of Prostitutes has written to Westminster’s borough commander after crowds of young men started filming themselves storming walk-ups. The filmed raids, which are being monetised in social media content, began more than a month ago with the most recent on Saturday night in Chinatown.

Sex workers – who are often single mothers trying to make ends meet – are not allowed to employ security guards or work together in groups because of legislation criminalising the industry.

The ECP’s Niki Adams told Extra said: “It’s very serious because women are living really scared and upset. They are angry and frustrated that it has been allowed to continue. They haven’t seen any kind of police response. We wrote to the borough commander. If it had been any other residence, there’s no way you would allow that. Sex workers’ lives count too. The police did start calling. But no effective action was taken and a dispersal order had no effect.

“The social media sites take down sex workers’ accounts in a flash of an eye. But for weeks there has been footage of young men kicking down doors of women and nothing has been done.

“The harassment varies – from big crowds gathering outside the flats, throwing things at the windows, running up and down the stairs, tearing down the posters, trying to break the security cameras – to very serious incidents where one man produced a knife when one of the women opened one of the doors.

“On many occasions they kicked open the doors and attacked a man coming out,” she said.

“The women are also scared because these people want to film and publish their faces on social media. Because of the stigma sex workers face, this would have very dramatic consequences. Most of the women are mothers supporting the families.

“Even having social services getting involved, it could lead to a threat of them losing custody of children.

“There are a lot of cases like that… where we are fighting.”

Ms Adams added that the “underlying problem” was archaic prostitution laws that prevent women working together legally and in security-protected premises.

“This is the key injustice,” she said. “It means you either have to prioritise safety and risk arrest, or put yourself at risk of violence. It has been the focus of our campaigning for five decades.

“But police quite like having the power from the laws that allow them to police women on the streets and control women in the premises.”

Ms Adams said many women MPs in government opposed the decriminalisation of sex work, adding that young people filming the raids for social media may be “picking up on misinformation used by senior politicians”.

The gov­ernment, who oppose the full decrim­inalisation of the sex industry, often advocate for the “Nordic Model”, which criminalises the purchase of sex while decriminalising sellers.

Ms Adams said: “We would be happy to abolish prostitution. But we think you should abolish it by giving women economic alternatives. By providing support to single mothers. Not just by increasing powers and forcing women into greater danger.”

Soho has historically been a safe haven for women. Many have gone there to work because they felt able to call the police if they needed to. “Because of this, a lot of women – immigrant and non-immigrant – have stayed there for many decades,” she said.

The Metropolitan Police Service said: “We’ve used our policing powers where appropriate to move on those involved in this behaviour. We’ve issued a number of Community Protection Warnings and continue to review our use of further powers, like Criminal Behaviour Orders, for persistent offenders.

“The trend doesn’t exclusively impact sex workers but they are among those who have been targeted. We would urge anyone who is the victim of violence or harassment, including when it is done in the name of social media entertainment, to contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.”