Fires and road blocks: French taxi drivers protest violently against Uber in Paris

Paris: Protests against ride-booking app Uber turned violent in France on Thursday as taxi drivers set fire to vehicles and blocked major roads. American rocker Courtney Love was caught up in the demonstrations when a vehicle she was travelling in outside Paris was attacked. [caption id=“attachment_2313216” align=“alignleft” width=“380” class=" “]  The inscription “Death to Uber” on a wall as taxi drivers stage a protest in Paris on Thursday. AFP[/caption] Around 3,000 cabbies took part in the strike, blocking access to the capital’s Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, and preventing cars reaching train stations around the country. Ten people were arrested, seven police officers were injured and 70 vehicles were damaged in clashes between Uber drivers and taxi drivers. The service, known as UberPOP, has been illegal in France since January, but the law has proved difficult to enforce and it continues to operate. Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after meeting taxi drivers’ unions following a fraught day: “UberPOP is an illegal service, it must be closed down.” Until that was done, “the vehicles of UberPOP drivers should be systematically impounded when they are openly breaking the law”, the minister said. “Governing the country will never be done by the law of the jungle,” Cazeneuve added. One of the taxi drivers’ representatives, Ibrahima Sylla, described the minister’s words as “promises, again” and said the drivers were considering continuing the demonstrations. Love, Kurt Cobain’s widow, was caught up in a confrontation near Charles de Gaulle airport. She tweeted that protesters “ambushed” her vehicle and “were holding our driver hostage”. She appealed to the French president in another message, writing “Francois Hollande where are the fucking police???” “This is France?? I’m safer in Baghdad,” she added. Two vehicles torched In the most serious incident in Paris, one private chauffeur, who said he did not work for Uber “or any other app” was dragged from his van when he reached a blockade in the west of Paris. Angry taxi drivers slashed the tyres of his vehicle, smashed a window and then set it and a chauffeur-driven van on fire. Police eventually fired teargas to break up the protest on the western stretch of the ring road around the capital and cleared burning tyres. Prime Minister Manuel Valls said during a visit to Colombia that the perpetrators of the “unacceptable” violence “can be found in both camps” and they would be found and prosecuted. Taxi drivers are furious at what they see as unfair competition from Uber, which puts customers in touch with private drivers at prices lower than those of traditional taxis. Licensed cabbies say the service is endangering their jobs by flooding the market with low-cost drivers. One driver said the strikers had been driven to desperation. “Taxi drivers – alright, they’ve got big mouths – but normally they’re not aggressive,” said Malia, 50, who has driven a taxi for three years. “But these guys have families to feed, debts. They’ve been pushed to the brink.” Illegal in France More peaceful protests took place at transport hubs in other major cities including Bordeaux, Marseille and Toulouse. Cabbies argued that the disruption was justified. “UberPOP is banned, but it’s still here,” cabbie Stephane Molla said in Bordeaux, southwest France. Cabbies in France, like their colleagues in several other countries, have held several protests against the app – some of which have turned violent. On at least two occasions in Strasbourg in eastern France last week, taxi drivers posed as customers in order to lure Uber drivers to isolated spots where they were assaulted by cab drivers and their vehicles damaged. In Paris, the government tried to strengthen its hand on Wednesday by obtaining a court order banning Uber from operating in the capital, but the company dismissed the move. “We will fight it (in the courts) and we’ll see what happens on appeal. For the time being it changes nothing, UberPOP can continue to operate,” the head ofUber France, Thibaud Simphal, told the BFM Business channel. San Francisco-based Uber, which offers several types of ride-sharing services, claims to have 400,000 UberPOP users in France. However, its drivers do not pay taxes, do not need to undergo the 250 hours of training mandatory for French cabbies and do not require the same insurance as taxis. AFP