Guerilla in France, protests in Italy. Taxi drivers from half of Europe are once again waging war on Uber: in Paris it is literally chaos, with at least 20 arrests in the morning after hours of clashes, with sblocked trades and burning tires. The protest is always against what is considered an abusive exercise of the profession: “Today our survival is at stake, we have had enough of meetings, of negotiations,” he said Ibrahim Sylla, spokesman of the Taxis de France association. According to the prefecture, around 1.500 taxi drivers demonstrated in various areas, especially in Orly. Inside Paris, some 140 vehicles gathered in front of the economy ministry, with taxi drivers displaying placards reading "economic terrorism", "stop deregulation".
Anti-Uber protests not only in Paris, but also in Italian cities, where white cars went on strike today in Florence, Rome and Naples. In the capital a few hundred taxi drivers took to Piazza Santi Apostoli to demonstrate. The trade unions CGIL, CISL, UIL, Ugl, Usb, Federtaxi Cisal and Ati have joined the initiative. "The signal that comes to us from this square today and from the base is to block the city if they do not withdraw the amendments under discussion in the Senate that pave the way for multinationals", he announced the national secretary of the Ugl and president of the association for the legal protection of taxis, Alessandro Genovese.
Taxis in revolt too Florence. As a sign of solidarity with the great French demonstration, in the Tuscan capital the white cars of CGIL, UIL, Cisal and Confartigianato have decided to fold their arms for the last 4 hours of each of today's shifts. “This has made it possible to maintain a minimum level of service even if with some difficulty and inconvenience for customers,” explained Fabio Macchiavelli of 4242 taxi. Taxis listed in mourning also in Naples, for the strike of white cars. At 8 in the morning the Neapolitan taxi drivers belonging to the Usb (Basic Trade Union Union) triggered a protest until 22 pm. A motorcade left just before 10.30 from Piazza San Francesco, headed for the Prefecture. The protest - did know the Usb - is revolt against "all forms of unauthorized use of public transport", to obtain from the municipal administration "valid policies on urban mobility" and for "the qualification of the taxi tariff".
Protests by consumer associations, while the premier also intervened in France Manuel Valls, defining the violence "unacceptable".
