Street prostitution in Viennese residential area around Brunner Straße in Liesing (23rd district) has always been present, but it is only now making news, as the situation is getting out of hand. According to our sources, residents of the area constantly see prostitutes and their clients negotiating and doing sex acts on the street.
Street prostitution in Vienna
Up until 2011, street sexworkers in Vienna were allowed to work almost throughout the whole city. They could operate on busy streets like Felberstraße, Linzerstraße, Äußere Mariahilferstraße and basically in the wider Prater area (2nd district), with a radius of well over 1km. With the new law in place, street prostitutes have been banned to what can be called the outskirts of Vienna. This is a mainly industrial area where street prostitutes are allowed to work.
Prostitution in Vienna is legal, but only in sex clubs, brothels, studios and other establishments. Street prostitution is also legal, but limited to designate areas. In residential areas it is strictly prohibited. But apparently, street prostitution is very common on parts of Brunner Straße, which falls into the residential area.
The problem is that there are no hotels or other facilities for street sexworkers to have sex in or at in that part of the city. The hourly hotels and brothels designated for street prostitution are further in the city. We feel sympathy for these prostitutes, as they do not really have a choice. They are being forced to work in an area that is making it super hard for them to make money, plus they work in a somewhat undignified way. Since there are simply no hotels that allow prostitution in that area, the only place they can have sex is in a car or in an outrageous place, such as a cemetery.
Prostitution around Friedhof Atzgersdorf
The area around the Atzgersdorf cemetery is often visited by street sexworkers who want to have sex with their clients, especially on the weekends. In addition to the unsightly scenes and vulgar noises, the residents have other concerns too. The street in front of the cemetery (Reklewskigasse) is littered with used condoms, dirty handkerchiefs and even used syringes.
Allegedly, some residents can even see the sex acts being done if they look out their window. One woman reported that she had to call the police at 10PM because of a sexworker and her client. The woman also added that the police got there and arrested them before they could finish.
How does the police retaliate?
The problem is not unknown to the police. According to a police spokesman, the area is continuously being monitored and they are sending out patrols daily. Apparently, police is increasing control in that area after the many complains they received.
District Party Chairman and District Council Deputy Roman Schmid has also commented on the situation. According to him, the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) has been observing the situation for quite some time now. They hardly had any problems, but now there are more and bigger issues emerging. Not only that the act of street prostitution in residential areas is illegal, but there are other problems too. Drug related crimes, as well as the exploitation of the sexworkers are their biggest concerns.
The Chairman also said that this can be prevented by simply banning street prostitution in Vienna altogether. Vienna is the only state in which street prostitution is still allowed. This would be a shame and we hope that another solution can be sorted out. There is an oversupply of sexworkers in Vienna and it might be the reason why the situation is getting out of hand. Pretty much all clubs, studios and laufhauses in Vienna are super full this season.
We will keep you posted as any new information emerges about street prostitution in Viennese residential area.
Source: meinbezirk.at (German article)