Cars set ablaze: French anti-Uber protests turn violent

Protests in France against ride-booking app Uber took a violent turn Thursday as taxi drivers burned cars and blocked access to airports and train stations. Some 2,800 cabbies took part in the strike, with more than 30 blockades nationwide, including the access points to Paris’s Charles De Gaulle and Orly airports. Taxi drivers in France are furious over an Uber service called UberPOP, which puts customers in touch with private drivers at prices lower than those of traditional taxis.

Taxi drivers — alright, they’ve got big mouths — but normally they’re not aggressive. …They’ve been pushed to the brink.

Cab driver

Licenced cabbies say the ride-sharing service Uber is endangering their jobs by flooding the market with low-cost drivers. UberPOP has been banned in France since January, but the law has proved difficult to enforce and the service continues to operate. One private chauffeur, who said he did not work for Uber “or any other app” was dragged from his van by angry cabbies when he reached a blockade in the west of Paris. They slashed his tires, smashed a window and then set it on fire.

UberPOP is banned, but it’s still here.

Cabbie Stephane Molla

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