This is not the first violent incident against Uber from enraged taxi drivers in France.
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Courtney Love tweeted a photo of a smashed window from inside her auto, claiming that picketers had attacked it. “You can understand that there are demonstrations”.
Some taxi drivers continued the protest Friday, but the strike didn’t appear to seriously disrupt morning travel around Paris, and no violence was immediately reported.
Anger seethed across France, with riot police chasing strikers from Paris’ ring road, where protesters torched tires and swarmed onto exit ramps during rush hour on the busy artery that leads to Charles de Gaulle airport. “They’re beating the cars with metal bats. this is France??”
Cab drivers in France and elsewhere have become increasingly vocal critics of Uber, which they see as having an unfair advantage. Get your ass to the airport… this is France??
French President Francois Hollande later joined in the criticism of Uber, arguing that the company “respects no rule”.
With traffic at a standstill in places, some travellers walked along the side of the motorway to reach the airport. The company has been battling unhappy taxi drivers all around the world the last few months now and it seems like these protests will not stop anytime soon.
The escalation follows on from around 100 attacks on Uber drivers and passengers in recent weeks.
“Critics say Paris taxis in particular have resisted being opened up to competition for decades, and are now totally unprepared to confront the Uber threat”.
USA rock singer Courtney Cobain was caught up in the unrest.
“We’re talking about a small minority, totally reluctant to (accept) any sort of change”. Officials pointed out that out of the 50,000 taxi drivers in the country, only a small percentage took part in these demonstrations. “We will show our solidarity to the French and to the tourists arriving in Paris”. Two friendly motorcyclists speeded Love out of the airport into Paris.
He said: “Many taxis drivers are infuriated”. “This will go on indefinitely, at least tonight and tomorrow”.
Speaking at the EU summit in Brussels on Friday, he called for Uber’s “dissolution” and the seizure of its “illegal ” cars.
Taxi representatives were met with government officials on Thursday. “We can’t put a cop behind each citizen using his vehicle”, he said.
Bernard Cazeneuve said the service was “illegal” and ordered police and prosecutors to enforce its closure.
‘Nothing justifies acts of violence’
. There are reports of taxi drivers organizing fake trips to snare UberPOP drivers with the app.
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According to the law, Cazeneuve said, UberPOP is illegal and its drivers risk prison terms and the confiscation of their vehicles. Dozens of passengers lined the roads, with some scrambling up slopes and across motorway barriers, a Reuters witness said.
