Singaporeans fight sex trade with street lamps -paper

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Residents in an area of Singapore have erected street lamps in the hope that bightly lit alleys will keep prostitutes at bay, a newspaper said on Saturday.

The Straits Times said the residents of Geylang, which houses Singapore's red-light district, were tired of prostitutes roaming nearly every street in the area, and were "ring-fencing" their homes with lamps in a "turf war" against sex workers.

Additional lamps have been erected along a 300-metre alley and more are to come, the newspaper said. Residents are also planning to throw parties and organise community events to "claim back territory", it said.

"You don't have to be scared. Without the lights, you always have to look behind you," the paper quoted a 70-year-old resident as saying.

Prostitution is legal in Singapore but soliciting is not.