Uber Van Attacked By French Taxi Drivers

Reason

Today, an Uber van in France was attacked by taxi drivers, who feel that the independent car service is threatening their jobs.

Taxi unions in France have criticized Uber for "unfair competition."

Kat Borlongan, co-founder of consulting firm Five by Five, who was in the van, tweeted about the attack:

Credit: Twitter

 From Reuters:

For two Uber customers in Paris, their ride was not at all what they expected. 

Major taxi unions in the French capital staged protests Monday against startup Uber and other independent car services for "unfair competition." The local taxi drivers feel that their jobs are threatened by new services such as Uber, French newspaper Le Monde reports.

But the protests turned violent when taxi drivers apparently attacked the Uber van that was transporting Kat Borlongan, co-founder of consulting firm Five by Five, and Eventbrite CTO Renaud Visage.

Read more from Reason.com on Uber here. 

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

In case you forgot why everyone hates the French.

[widget]

There's a fairly good chance, if you open the lighting panel for your home you'll see a Square-D or Schneider (that's a French name, curiously) logo on some of the components. When you examine one more closely you'll often see "Made in France" in tiny print, embossed on the part, rather than the usual "Made in China".

[Fist of Etiquette]

NEVER!

[C. Anacreon]

Schneider (that's a French name, curiously)

Only curious if you are curious yellow. Who can forget French gal and butter enthusiast Maria Schneider?

[seguin]

I give you the Schneider CA1

[Austrian Anarchy]

Seems more like a union thing this go-around. They are branching out from the racism of old where Samuel Gompers declared Chinese men as the root of white unemployment, or the later bigots who blamed newly freed blacks.

No, these guys are equal opportunity idiots who cannot figure out that all you have to do to be successful at cab driving is not suck as bad as the union guys.

[Brandybuck]

Keeping it classy, Frenchie, keeping it classy!

[C. Anacreon]

Perhaps they were just confused French Underground cabbies, thinking they were targetting Taxi Uber Alles?

[Cytotoxic]

A nation of thundercunts.

Be thankful for America.

[Greg83]

Ah, now we see the violence inherent in the system!

[Episiarch]

unfair competition

Translation: existing. I bet the rest of you don't even speak French.

[Pelosi's Rabbit]

Ah, thank you. I was wondering what the distinction was between "competition" and "unfair competition."

[Sigivald]

Better translation: not paying Union dues.

[EdWuncler]

And this is why the French will never ever be a beacon for economic liberty. I understand being worried about having to face competitors and possibly even losing your job. At the same time though, these guys (taxi cartels) created a system where there's no competition and promoted price fixing by regulating those who didn't receive special privileges from the government, completely out of business. Now that your government has somewhat allowed competition and relaxed the regulations, your asses are getting kicked and thus resorting to violence to keep your privileges and shield yourself from competition.

America may have it's issues, but I would rather live here then in France.

[Greg83]

They would do it in America if they thought they could get away with it.

Let's not forget the unions, especially the "teacher's" union, trying to use strong-arm tactics to bully the Wisconsin legislator when things didn't go their way.

[EdWuncler]

But the thing is though while the unions here in America would love to try this sort of shit, the difference is that Americans don't have much tolerance for violence. If the public sector unions in Wisconsin would have resorted to violence, the American public would quickly turn on them in a second.

[Ken Shultz]

The unions do resort to violence, periodically.

The American public is loathe to support any strikes that inconvenience them directly.

I think the California grocery strike of ten years ago failed like that. You want to strike against GM or some company I only deal with through a distributor, that's one thing. Make it hard for me to buy groceries or get around town, and you can all go to hell.

[EdWuncler]

Americans are pretty passive but when you fuck with their convenience, you have fucked up.

[playa manhattan]

Ken, which grocery store do you go to around here?

[R C Dean]

the difference is that Americans don't have much tolerance for violence.

I seem to recall lots of violence, by union members even, directed at Tea Party rallies and even around the WI union kerfuffle.

And that's not even counting the violence and intimidation that unions routinely engage in. Any major strike will encompass lots of violence, threats of violence, and destruction of property.

And practically nobody is ever charged. I would say that's pretty fucking tolerant of violence, myself.

[EdWuncler]

True. When you have an entity that is willing to use the American public as collateral for their quest for power and monopoly, they would have no problem resorting to violence means.

[playa manhattan]

Under California law, unions are specifically allowed to engaged in violence. I think there was an HandR post about it a few years ago.

[Pelosi's Rabbit]

I prefer to slowly turn on them in a second.

[Paul.]

France would rather you live here than France.

[EdWuncler]

And also, I love how the Progressive's bitch and moan about the French being much more civilized then us and how we should be more like them. These are the same people though who throws a bitchfit when their 3G or 4G phones aren't working and internet connection is slow. If you you lose your shit over that, you will probably go to the insane asylum when (insert trade labor union) goes on strike and Paris comes to a standstill.

[widget]

And also, I love how the [US?] Progressive's bitch and moan about the French being much more civilized then us and how we should be more like them.

Without the antisemitism.

[R C Dean]

Since when do Progs object to anti-semitism?

[Ken Shultz]

"And also, I love how the Progressive's bitch and moan about the French being much more civilized then us and how we should be more like them."

On this very subject, the president of France, Francois Hollande, just within the last day? A tabloid published that he was having an affair--and his First Lady only found out about it through the tabloids.

She shit a tricolor Big Mac!

Apparently, she had a nervous breakdown on the spot--to find out that her husband was cheating on her--and she had to be hospitalized.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01......html?_r=0

The suggestion that French women don't care if you cheat on them is probably racist, OR if that sort of attitude predominates in France, then French society is misogynistic. ...yeah, we here in America are so "backwards", we sit up and take notice when somebody treats his significant other like shit.

[The Last American Hero]

Maybe she should have an affair with Obama - they could bond over how they only hear about things through the news.

[Ken Shultz]

+1

[Brett L]

She appears to be old enough to understand that if a man cheats on his steady with you, he'll cheat on you when you become his steady.

[neoteny]

This.

He did not even marry her (or the previous one to her); I can't see how could she have any reasonable expectation of faithfulness.

[mad libertarian guy]

He did not even marry her (or the previous one to her); I can't see how could she have any reasonable expectation of faithfulness.

Because she has the delusion that she is somehow different than the others. It isn't that Hollande is bad, it's that he never had the right woman to tame him. She sees this as her failure, not his, and that's why she is so distraught.

[Ken Shultz]

"He did not even marry her (or the previous one to her); I can't see how could she have any reasonable expectation of faithfulness."

What women are you dating, that they don't care about whether you cheat on 'em since you're not married?

And after they've been in the public eye and humiliated like that?

If you don't think it bugs women that you cheated on them--just because you're not married? Then you must be dating women from another planet.

[Ken Shultz]

Does it work this way with men, by the way?

Are guys supposed to have no faith in any woman until she marries him--until then, she gets a free pass, but after she marries him, then she's supposed to start keeping her promises?

You SERIOUSLY think women have no standing to be angry that you misled them and lied to them--so long as you don't marry them?!

LOL

[Ken Shultz]

"He did not even marry her (or the previous one to her); I can't see how could she have any reasonable expectation of faithfulness."

Do you ever make business agreements with people you're not married to?

Do you expect them to honor their part of the bargain--if you're not married to them?

[Sevo]

Ken,
That had nothing to do with his mistress. The whole thing is a result of Mickey Ds opening another franchise in Paris!

[Ken Shultz]

+1

[MJGreen]

I don't know if there is worse scum in the western world than French union members.

OK, maybe rapists and serial killers. But it's close.

[Ken Shultz]

"Taxi unions in France have criticized Uber for "unfair competition."

Something tells me that there isn't any form of competition that they would consider fair.

[Almanian!]

In the end, the unions always resort to violence. ALWAYS. Management doesn't much do it any more - shamed out of it after Ford's Battle of the Overpass in which Walter Ruether and company were beaten bloody.

Detroit newspaper strike a couple years ago? Nail stars in the driveway to puncture company truck tires (as well as those of innocent bystanders). Remember the truckers in the 70's SHOOTING AT "scabs"?

In the end, the unions ALWAYS resort to violence. But they're the cool ones....fuck 'em.

[Almanian!]

Oh, PS, and Europe's unions are MUCH worse than those in the US for this. Fuck all of 'em.

[EdWuncler]

But yet the UAW cries whenever another plant moves to the South or Mexico. They actually expect management to put up with their shit and have a smile on their faces. This may be vindictive, but I somewhat get a smile on my face when I hear some company blowhard crying about outsourcing. If you and your union weren't dicks, they might want to stay.

[HazelMeade]

In the end, the unions ALWAYS resort to violence.

Because they can't get what they want through voluntary cooperation.
By definition.

Whether it's through the long arm of the law, or through hurling bricks, any system that isn't based on voluntary cooperation is based on violence. Unions always resort to violence because there is no other way for them to get people to do what they want.

[Suthenboy]

The froggie unions are incredibly petulant and completely out of touch with reality.

Didn't I see the other day where some union members were holding Goodyear execs hostage? Held hostage in the plant that Goodyear wanted to close because the workers would not work and repeatedly went on strike causing Goodyear to lose massive amounts of money yet the govt forced them to keep open.

[Paul.]

The froggie unions are incredibly petulant and completely out of touch with reality.

Yes but do they get their way?

[EdWuncler]

They live in a delusional world.

[HazelMeade]

That's what happens when your worldview is never seriously criticized by anyone in the media establishment.

[Entropy Void]

Fuck those socialist, stinky, cheese-swilling surrender monkeys.

That is all.

[JW]

France sounds like an excruciatingly stupid place to live, one that would have me in a bell tower after a few weeks.

I get that its culture is something unique and should be experienced, but it seems to be populated exclusively by Veruca Salt's offspring.

[RishJoMo]

Dude makes a lot of sense man.

http://www.Planet-Anon.tk

[neoteny]

OT: Texting Triggers Movie Theater Shooting by Retired Police Captain

[...]

Police said that Reeves asked Chad and Nichole Oulson several times to stop, and then Reeves left the theater. When Reeves returned, Chad Oulson asked Reeves if he reported his phone use to the theater managers, police said. That prompted an argument which ended when Reeves pulled out a gun and shot Oulson in the chest, police said.

[...]

Reeves was charged with second degree homicide.

If he left to fetch his gun (admittedly a big if), then isn't that a sign of planning?

[dinkster]

I already read an article decrying gun ownership over this. No real attention being paid over the fact that he was a retired cop and can legally own fully automatic weapons.

[mad libertarian guy]

In a country with CCW, this shit couldn't happen.

[pan fried wylie]

"...but the driver maneuvered us to safety, changed the tire on the freeway, and got us home safely."

I'd like to see any of the union shits manage that.

[Jerryskids]

Today, an Uber van in France was attacked by taxi drivers, who feel that the independent car service is threatening their jobs.

Please tell me that they attacked the van with wooden shoes.

[HazelMeade]

This really puts on full display what socialism is all about: using violence to force people to give you money.

[HazelMeade]

They should have just robbed the passengers. It would have been more honest.

[bostonaod]

I love that second tweet.

A lot of the Uber drivers around here are former taxi drivers, they know that the closed market is bullshit.

[MoreFreedom]

Why didn't Kat or Renaud use their smart phones to videotape the perpetrators? That way, they'd be arrested, or will the French government show themselves to be bullied by the taxi drivers as well? It might have even stopped the attack. It's a good thing they did stop before someone was hurt, even though the owner of the vehicle was harmed by the damage done to the vehicle.