Prostitutes in Paris’ Belleville district, particularly those of Chinese descent, have never felt more anxious. As the countdown to the 2024 Olympics continues, police are stepping up their crackdown on vulnerable undocumented prostitutes who say they are being targeted in a brutal campaign to polish up the City of Light in time for the games.
Every month, Aying* sends some of the money she earns back to her family in China, where everyone expects this “over 60” grandmother and only child to work as a cashier at the local supermarket.
The reality is far from the truth.
She was part of a small group of Chinese women who, for a variety of reasons, ended up selling their bodies on the streets of Belleville, a working-class district in northeast Paris, over the past decade.
Aying didn’t mean for things to turn out this way: When she first came to Paris in 2013, she hoped to land a job in one of the city’s many restaurants or bars, maybe a boutique.
“I chose France because I was told it was easy to make money here. France had this romantic image, and for me Paris was the epitome of luxury and fashion, with Coco Chanel and Dior,” she says, laughing wryly as she recalls her early innocence. “But Paris is nothing like that. It’s dirty, far from flashy,” she says, speaking through a translator of a world of contrasts between the clean Prada scarf around her neck and the chunky black combat boots on her feet.
Finding work turned out to be much harder than Aying expected: After just a few months, she ran out of money and ended up working on the streets of Belleville. She left China for financial reasons and some vague but apparently painful “family changes,” but going back to China was never an option.
Repressive methods
Belleville’s Chinese prostitutes are well known among locals and tourists alike for their exorbitant fees and aggressive solicitation, approaching potential customers on sidewalks and at traffic lights.
Historically, women are said to have set up shop at Belleville Crossroads because it is the intersection of four of the city’s 20 streets. Ward Operating around the (precincts) made it difficult for each police district to distinguish which police district was responsible for arresting them.
France decriminalized soliciting prostitution in 2016 and imposed penalties on those who buy sex instead. Aying said the change in law has scared off many of her former clients, but that it has at least reduced police crackdowns targeting her and other prostitutes.
Until about a year ago.
Since then, testing has become more frequent and, as the Paris Games approach, the scrutiny has gotten worse, Aying said.
“They are now testing all the time, they come in in the evenings and at night, for example on Tuesday nights and Sunday nights, so it’s becoming more organised,” she said.
For her, there is only one reason: “They want to stop us from working.”
Sex workers elsewhere in Paris have also complained about increasingly repressive police tactics: In March, a group of 17 associations and unions representing prostitutes in Paris issued a joint statement condemning the “full-scale repressive approach” ahead of the Olympics, warning that it was “having clear implications for the health and safety of sex workers.”
But because police can no longer arrest them on prostitution charges, prostitutes say they are turning to another, more effective way to get rid of them: identity checks.
Murder and heart attacks
For Chinese sex workers, ID checks are devastating: Not only are the women illegal, the majority are elderly and have health problems.
“They are not young women. Most of them are 45, 50, 60 years old, sometimes even older,” explains Ting, who wears many hats – manager, coordinator, administrator, translator and accountant – for the Les Roses d’Acier (“The Steel Roses”) association, founded in 2014 to help Chinese sex workers understand their rights as illegal immigrants and navigate France’s administrative system to access basic services like healthcare.
For these women, access to doctors and healthcare is essential: older age means many are experiencing rapid hormonal changes associated with menopause and have more health problems than their younger peers.
“There are a lot of cancers, including uterine and breast cancer, and strokes are also common, and as we all know, strokes are related to stress,” Ting said, pointing to the unsafe working conditions the women face.
“We get calls like, ‘I’ve just been raped and he has a knife, what should I do?'” she said, noting that in addition to rape, women are often victims of robberies and other types of attacks.
Because the women are illegally in the country, few dare go to the police for fear of their documents being checked. If they are caught staying illegally in France, they could be deported to China and never be able to get a visa again.
One of the group’s members was deported to China in December last year.
Since Tin began working with women 10 years ago, several women have been murdered: “Six, no, more than eight, and that’s not even counting those who died of natural causes. Quite a few have died of heart attacks.”
Mother and grandmother
Ting, the only member of the group who speaks fluent French, said most of the “Steel Roses” – around 150 in Belleville and 600 in France – came to Europe in search of a better life after experiencing severe social and economic hardships in China.
“Maybe they’ve lost their jobs, escaped an abusive partner or found themselves isolated and stranded after the death of their husband,” she says. “Many of them are mothers and grandmothers, and they’re trying to make a difference in some way while still fulfilling their roles.” [financial] “I am aware of my responsibility to my family back home,” she explained.
The fact that police are targeting them has sent a shock of fear through the community, she said: “We are very worried. We have noticed a significant increase in police crackdowns and arrests over the past few months and it’s clear they are targeting Chinese sex workers. [in Belleville]”This is total discrimination. If there are three prostitutes on the street and one of them is Chinese, they will choose the Chinese. With the Olympics coming up, it’s only going to get worse.”
Ting said Belleville, one of the few areas of Paris where prostitution still operates openly, could become unviable and many Chinese sex workers could move to other cities – farther from unfamiliar areas and clients and perhaps needed health services – or simply not be able to work at all.
“Not being able to work means we have to save now to earn more, and that means taking more risks,” she warned, estimating that the women earn between 30 and 80 euros per client depending on the services provided.
In an emailed response, the prefecture acknowledged that it had stepped up its “fight against prostitution” ahead of the Olympics, mobilizing task forces to combat pimps and brothels, but made no mention of prostitutes, despite specific questions about them and how they are controlled in the Belleville district. It did not respond to the allegations made by the prostitutes.
20 Mayor’s OfficesNumber Ward, He could not be reached for comment on the matter, where Belleville is located.
An easy target
Aying, who now serves as president of Steel Roses, said it’s clear authorities are targeting Chinese prostitutes because they’re a particularly easy target. “Most of us are illegal immigrants, so the authorities are trying to sweep the streets under the pretext of checking ID documents,” she said.
Aying herself no longer has to worry about checking her identity – she is one of the few “steel roses” to have legal status in France – but it is already hard enough for older Chinese sex workers to find clients.
“There are many days when we have zero customers. Zero income.”
On days like those, she says it’s even more important to stay calm and not take unnecessary risks. “It’s all about making an effort to stay safe.”
But for Belleville’s undocumented street residents, she said the pre-Olympic crackdown has made it harder.
*Not real name
