Hundreds Of Prostitutes Forced Onto The Streets Following Kandapara Brothel Demolishion

TANGAIL, TANGAIL DISTRICT - OCTOBER 18: 48 year old former Kandapara brothel sex worker Shazia (whose name has been changed to protect her identity) walks through the medical clinic where she works part time as a maid on October 18, 2014 in Tangail, Bangladesh. When she was very young her parents sent her to the brothel to work as a maid to make extra money for the family. When she got older she decided to start working as a sex worker. "I liked the environment and the people, day by day it turned into a habit for me and I enjoyed it." she says. She lost all of her possessions in the eviction and only makes a quarter of her old income taking around 1 client a week. On July 12th of this year a group of armed men, backed by the local government, went to the 200 year old Kandapara brothel with drums of petrol and threatened to set the place on fire. They cut off the electricity and gave the sex workers two hours to vacate. Hundreds of sex workers have gone to other brothels around the country but many have stayed in Tangail, where they live in secret under threat from local residents. Many still take the occasional client in secret, fearing for their safety without the protection the other women offered, and making far less than they did in the brothel. (Photo by Allison Joyce/Getty Images)