Paris riot: anti-Uber protest turns violent
French riot police fire tear gas as taxi drivers in Paris protest against online rivals Uber. US singer Courtney Love takes to Twitter to express her outrage after her cab is “ambushed”.
Arriving in the French capital, Courtney Love tweeted that her car had been attacked by picketers who held her driver “hostage” and beat cars with metal bats, causing her to ask “This is France? I’m safer in Baghdad.”
After wondering why the police were not intervening, and demanding that the French President Francois Hollande should “get your ass to the airport”, she later Tweeted that she had “paid some guys on motorcyles to sneak us out”. But she said she had been “chased by a mob of taxi drivers who threw rocks, passed two police and they did nothing.”
Dude @kanyewest we may turn back to the airport and hide out with u.picketers just attacked our car #ParisUberStrike pic.twitter.com/MtanurybOO
— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) June 25, 2015
paid some guys on motorcycles to sneak us out, got chased by a mob of taxi drivers who threw rocks, passed two police and they did nothing
— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) June 25, 2015
The latest protest against the online cab sharing website Uber saw taxi drivers block access to airports, train stations and parts of the ring road around the capital. Angry drivers overturned rubbish bins and vehicles before police moved in to clear the roads.
Il fait pas bon être VTC à Porte Maillot #manif #taxis #AFP pic.twitter.com/Q1dR4Hci1i
— Simon (@simonsayzzzzz) June 25, 2015
Demonstrations also took place in several other major cities across France.
Drivers say US-based Uber is putting licensed operators out of work by allowing passengers to contact drivers direct using an online app. However the service has proved popular with consumers due to its low prices. Traditional cab firms say Uber should be subject to the same level of regulation as they are, and multiple legal challenges are under way.
Uber assault
Protests have been seen in countries around the world – some of which have turned violent, with Uber clients and drivers reporting being assaulted. On at least two occasions in Strasbourg last week, taxi drivers posed as customers in order to lure Uber drivers to isolated spots where they were assaulted by other cab drivers and their vehicles damaged.
