Around 60 sex workers staged a noisy protest outside parliament during the final debate on the bill that will affect the livelihoods of at least 30,000 prostitutes in France, four in five of whom are foreign.

Some carried a banner reading “Don’t liberate me, I’ll take care of myself!”, while another poster read, in English, “Sex work is work.” Backed by the Socialist government, the legislation has been nearly two and a half years in the making.

All European countries penalise pimping, but France will become only the fifth to punish the clients of prostitutes, along with Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Britain.

Sweden in 1999 became the first country in the world to make it illegal to pay for sex, in a bid to lower demand.

In France, predominantly right-wing senators have opposed the ban on paying for sex, which will be punishable by a 1,500-euro fine for first offenders, increasing to 3,750 euros for repeat offenders. But after previous debates in both chambers of parliament ended in deadlock, the lower house, dominated by the left, had the final say.

The proposal introduced in October 2013 has divided public opinion in France, prompting a group of 343 public figures to issue what they called a “scumbags’ manifesto” asserting the right to use prostitutes.

The signatories, who included journalists, writers and actors, said they resented being depicted as “perverts or psychopaths” and refused to allow “deputies (to) legislate norms on our desires and our pleasures.”

Socialist lawmaker Maud Olivier, the architect of the bill, has argued repeatedly that prostitutes should be seen as “victims and no longer as delinquents.”

The new law will supersede a little enforced 2003 measure penalising the solicitation of clients for sex.

Feature image source: Reuters