London sex workers ‘targeted by teens barging their way into premises’
Teenagers are terrorising London’s sex workers by storming into their buildings and breaking down doors in a viral Tiktok trend.
As many as 50 children at a time film themselves trying to get to the women working inside.
CCTV cameras have reportedly been ripped down and windows vandalised.
Footage also shows repeated kicking of doors, with one allegedly broken in the raids.
Witnesses heard the groups shout ‘close the brothels’, telling those around them they wanted to ‘stop trafficking’.
Niki Adams, from the English Collective of Prostitutes, told The Times: ‘Women are living in fear, trapped in their flats and too scared to go out, and we cannot understand why the police have failed to take effective action or allowed this to continue for over a month.
‘It’s hard to believe this level of intimidation would be tolerated if it were a royal residence or an ambassador’s home under threat.’
Brothels are unable to hire their own security, as anyone working as a bouncer will be deemed to be facilitating sex work which is illegal.
What are the prostitution laws in the UK?
In the UK people are legally allowed to pay for sex if the person is aged over 18 and they haven’t been forced into prostitution.
But it is illegal to:
- Advertise in phone boxes
- Kerb crawl (approach people in public to ask them for sex)
- Rent or allow a property to be used as a brothel
- Exploit someone selling sex, for example by using force, threats, deception or other forms of coercion
- Traffic people to the UK or around the UK for sex
In Northern Ireland, it is completely illegal to pay for sex.
While prostitution is legal in the UK (except Northern Ireland), any related activities including soliciting, operating a brothel and controlling prostitues for financial gain is illegal.
The Met Police said: ‘We’ve used our policing powers where appropriate to move on those involved in this behaviour.
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‘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.’
Metro has contacted the Metropolitan Police for comment.
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