More than 150 prostitutes staged a vigil Monday to protest laws they claim will cripple Greece's legal brothels and feed the illegal sex trade before next year's Olympic Games.

A prostitute stands next to a police officer during a protest outside the Interior Ministry in Athens Aug 25, 2003.  [AP]

The Greek prostitutes — mostly linked to state-sanctioned brothels — gathered outside the Interior Ministry to demand authorities back off enforcement of a 1999 law that sets strict rules on the location of bordellos.

Athens' municipal council has revived the once widely ignored rules in an effort to bolster the city's image before the Olympics. Under the law, brothels must be inspected regularly and are banned from operating within 660 feet of churches, schools and youth centers and other civic institutions.

Critics, led by some advocates for the legal prostitutes, claim the rules will drive prostitution onto the streets and help feed the massive illegal sex trade in Greece dominated by Eastern European immigrants.

Prostitution is legal in Greece only in brothels with state permits.

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