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Hookers ordered out of enormous red-light district in majority Muslim nation

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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
A sex worker checks her smartphone as she and others wait for customers in a brothel at Dolly prostitution complex in Surabaya, Indonesia.AP
Dolly Indonesia prostitution
A female security officer stands guard as sex workers who agree to leave Dolly red-light district queue up to register to receive compensation money from the city government, at a local military office in Surabaya, Indonesia. AP
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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
A "karaoke girl" shouts protests against the city government's move to close down Dolly.AP
Dolly Indonesia prostitution
Armed with sticks, residents of Dolly man a roadblock in protest against the closing of the prostitution complex on June 18.AP
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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
Sex workers wait for customers outside a brothel at Dolly.AP
Dolly Indonesia prostitution
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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
A sex worker walks inside a brothel at Dolly.AP
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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
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Dolly Indonesia prostitution
Muslim hardliners shout slogans as they stage a rally supporting the city government's move to shut down Dolly on June 18.AP
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Muslim protesters shout “Allahu akbar” (“God is great”) during a rally supporting the closing of Dolly red-light district in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia, on June 18.AP

SURABAYA, Indonesia — The mayor of Indonesia’s second-largest city has officially shut down “Dolly,” one of Southeast Asia’s biggest red-light districts, but the world’s oldest profession is still working despite warnings to stop.

Dolly — believed to have been named years ago after a colonial Dutch madam — was supposed to have closed June 18, but on the main drag, young women in skin-tight miniskirts and heels continue to lure guests into rooms lit only by faint red and pink lights.

Pimps made no attempt to hide as they stood outside, greeting potential customers. When a sex worker in a karaoke parlor spotted journalists walking past, she ran out with a raised fist and shouted, “Dolly will stay open!”

Surabaya’s reformist mayor Tri Rismaharini has vowed to shutter the area, and the government is offering $425 to each of the estimated 1,500 sex workers to help them get out of the business.

Rismaharini plans to ease the women out of the work, and gave them until Monday to collect the money. She has not attempted to use force but said she wants the entire complex closed down by the end of the holy month of Ramadan in late July.

But the sex workers, pimps and local business owners have taken to the streets in protest, saying the city is offering too little compensation for yanking them away from their livelihoods.

Sex workers from Dolly sit in a road in a protest against the closing of the prostitution complex.AP

“The government just doesn’t care about us,” said Suyatmi, 43, a prostitute who uses one name like many Indonesians. “We need a more permanent solution. They can’t just solve the prostitution problem by handing out money to prostitutes.”

Prostitution rings operate openly in all major Indonesian cities despite opposition from Islamic conservatives, some of whom want to replace the country’s secular system with one bound by Islamic law. Most of Indonesia’s 246 million people are Muslims.

Rismaharini, the first female mayor of Surabaya, has pledged to shut down all brothels in the city.