Residents living near the managed red-light district in Leeds plan to protest every fortnight until it is removed.
In 2014, Leeds Council and the police decided to turn a blind eye to kerb crawling and soliciting for sex within the Holbeck area of Leeds, between 8pm and 6am seven days a week.
But people living near the area say they have been plagued by anti-social behaviour ever since.
‘Disgrace’
Laura Walton, a resident and local business owner, says she joined the protest to make everyone aware how bad the ‘managed approach’ to prostitution is for residents.
She said: “It’s meant to be within a certain time and in a certain place away from residential areas but it’s not.
“It’s happening 24-hours a day, outside people’s houses, in parks, in all the public areas, so we see it constantly.”
Protester Norma West branded the managed zone “a disgrace”, saying: “They’re all over the place, it’s not under control, my husband’s been pulled up by them, my son has, you know, it’s getting out of control.”
‘Disaster’
In July, Holbeck residents and teachers at a nearby school reported used condoms and needles being discarded in parks and in the school grounds.
A senior police officer told the Telegraph the managed zone had been “a disaster from day one”.
The officer said: “If we thought we had complaints from the public before, that paled in comparison after they set up the zone.
“We’ve had rapes, a murder, loads of women being beaten up, massive health risk to kids and others because of the condoms and needles and everyone’s forgotten about the state the girls are in.”