Paris taxi drivers block roads and flip cars in protest of Uber
LatestAs night descends on Paris, taxi drivers are still blocking roads, flipping cars upside down, and setting tires on fire in protest of an Uber service that they say unfairly affects their business.
People in Paris were posting videos and photos of protestors—estimated earlier to number around 2,800—converging on roads and clashing with riot police, who used tear gas in the confrontation.
https://instagram.com/p/4Wr2J-Mtb1/https://instagram.com/p/4XFm-DRhu6/
The protests are specifically targeted at UberPOP, a service allegedly allows drivers to operate without the licenses required of regular taxi drivers.
“Uber condemns the acts of violence perpetrated today in Paris and other French cities. Whatever the concern, violence is never acceptable. No French court of justice has declared uberPOP illegal,” a spokesperson for Uber in Western Europe said in a statement to Fusion.
Smoke and sirens filled the streets around Porte Maillot, a transport hub and access point for those traveling into Paris.
Shervin Pishevar, an investor in Uber, said on twitter:
Our driver had to speed under bridges in Paris because they were stoning the chauffeur cars (black cars) from the top of bridges #uberparis
— Shervin Pishevar (@shervin) June 25, 2015
Pishevar also posted photos of the protest, calling it the “battleground between Paris Taxis and military police and riot police.”
Pics from Porte Malliot battleground between Paris Taxis and military police and riot police. Set 1 pic.twitter.com/Xv9MymR5Dg
— Shervin Pishevar (@shervin) June 25, 2015
In response to the protests, France’s interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve called for a ban on UberPOP in Paris. The International Business Times UK reports:
Interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve said on 25 June: “I have instructed, given the serious disturbances of public order and development of this illegal activity, the Paris Prefect of Police to take this day an order prohibiting UberPop activity,” reports local news site RFI.