French Police Ordered to Crack Down on Uber After Anti-Uber Strike Turns Violent

Violence precipitates change

France 24

French taxi drivers went on strike yesterday over competition from UberPOP, a ride sharing service made available in Friday after a presidential decree required non-ride sharing Uber drivers to wait 15 minutes before picking up a hail. The French government also ruled UberPOP illegal, but it continues to operate while there are still legal appeals available.

Yesterday's protest made big news when it turned violent and ensnared Courtney Love, who tweeted the incident, saying her car had been ambushed and her Uber driver attacked. Like the shutting down of highways and other transportation links, violence too is a common tactic of the striking French taxi driver. For several years taxi drivers have targeted and attacked Uber drivers and their passengers. Earlier this week France 24 reported about a French man who was attacked by a cabbie after pointing out he couldn't tell if the taxi was on-duty and noting that that was why Uber outcompeting the taxi drivers.

The French government will have none of the taxi drivers' anti-Uber violence, so it has banned UberPOP and ordered police to crack down on drivers operating with the service. CNN reports:

The French government has ordered police to crack down on Uber in Paris after violence erupted at demonstrations by taxi drivers against the online ride service.

Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said Thursday that he asked the Paris police authority to issue a decree forbidding activity by UberPOP drivers. Similar decrees have already been issued in other major French cities.

Cazeneuve said vehicles using UberPOP will now "be systematically seized" by police when caught operating.

Seventy vehicles were destroyed and ten people were arrested after yesterday's violent protest, but no word on the breakdown of taxi drivers vs. Uber drivers and others who were arrested. At least one Uber driver was arrested for allegedly running over a taxi driver blocking his car, although most of the violence yesterday was attributed to the cabbies.

Comments

[Bee Tagger]

taxis uber alles

[Swiss Servator, Holzhacker]

*narrows gaze*

[VicRattlehead]

So in France if you want your way just throw a shitfit and the government will cave, great i cant see anything wrong with rewarding rioters

[Illocust]

It's not like this a new thing for Europe. It's one of the big difference between here and over there. People over here get pissed if you break other people's things while protesting. They get so pissed it is a viable tactic to paint any protestors as violent. Over there, no one seems to care, except for the politicians who see this as their constituents expressing their desires.

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

Nothing like arbitrary statist justice. Uber gets attacked by union thugs and the pro-union pro-thug government punishes the victims.

[See Double You]

That'll be the norm here pretty soon.

[See Double You]

Meant that as a reply to VicRattlehead, but I guess it works here, too.

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

Now you've hurt my feelz.

[PBR Streetgang]

Exactly what I was thinking! WTH?

[Robert]

Well, it may stop the violence, right? If you have overwhelming force on your side, you can come down on either side to get the other to surrender, at which point resistance would be suicidal, so it stops the violence...unless somebody's a little nuts. Theoretically it doesn't matter which side you pick to come down on.

[See Double You]

Sure. Too bad it is unjust.

[Deckard]

People still say shit like "Why can't we be more like Europe?"

[PS]

Some people want to be more stupid?

[toolkien]

It's a simple function. After two hundred years of war, the end installments of which killed millions of the best their societies had to offer, the people left over were the lowest end of the population - reverse Darwinism if you will. The lower end and parasites of our society certainly want to be like Europe due to the kinship.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yesterday's protest made big news when it turned violent and ensnared Courtney Love...

Thus almost guaranteeing we'll never find Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

[Statutory Ape]

I would facepalm, but I'm afraid the resulting impact would crack the earth in half.

[See Double You]

So instead of cracking down on these petulant taxi drivers who use violence to get their way, the Frenchies ban Uber.

Typical. My God, does this world suck.

[Dark Lord of the wood chipper]

This has been discussed here before(I think John was the first I saw post it) The left loves mob violence. In Europe, the mobs can do whatever they want and most of the time the government backs them, not the victims. In America though, these thugs run the risk of being shot by their would be victims.

[sarcasmic]

mob violence == democracy

[Rhywun]

In Europe, the mobs can do whatever they want and most of the time the government backs them, not the victims.

Well, the mobs are usually an arm of the government.

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

The illiberalism of democracy can be confounding for people raised to believe that democracy is the reason we live in such a prosperous and relatively enlightened age.

[LynchPin1477]

The Enlightened Continent, ladies and gentlemen.

[PM]

Hey, you know what they say, Resistance Isn't Always Rational.

We needn't endorse the means of desperate people to acknowledge their ends are worth fighting for.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Wow, I missed that article. Maybe as some sort of unconscious defense mechanism. So, where does ENB stand on income redistribution? After all, the end of lifting people out of poverty surely excuses the immorality of state-sponsored theft, right?

Sorry, but sometimes the ends some desperate people are fighting for are free Doritos and as many cartons of Newports as they can carry. Using the screen of protests to assault, rob, and vandalize is no more a misguided act of justifiable resistance than my dog's stealing a piece of steak on Memorial Day is his way of honoring veterans.

Also, you know the only two things they found in the CVS after the riots? Sunscreen and Father's Day cards!

/here all week
//try the veal

[Zeb]

That was about people pissed off over police murdering people. I don't think she was saying that all ends that desperate people seek are good or worth fighting for.

[Marshal]

Up next: firebombing taxis.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You think that will get the taxis banned?

[Marshal]

Only if the perps do it publicly.

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

Presumably the taxi drivers will be doing the firebombing and their victims will put in the burn unit of the nearest prison.

[Hugo S. Cunningham]

Gun control in action...

Some 10-20 years back, when Texas extended the castle doctrine to car drivers, the usual people were predicting a bloodbath on Texas streets.

The first case involved road rage, not surprisingly. The rager got out of his car and ran up to his would-be victim's car, pummeling him through the driver's window. The driver, however, was able to end the attack by shooting him.

The Sarah-Brady Bunch squawked how terrible this was. Self-defense advocates replied that the law was working exactly as intended, deterring future acts of road-rage thuggery.

[Kristens Vermeer]

This is what the social democrats (whatever the fuck that means) have wrought.

ENJOY!

[PS]

French justice - crack down on the people who aren't causing the riots. Seems legit.

[Robert]

But if you give the people who are causing the riots what they want, they've no more reason to riot. On that subject, that is.

[Ceci n'est pas un woodchipper]

Funny, I just read amsoc referring favorably to the French health care system in another thread. I wonder how long until he brings his folksy wisdom here to admire French law enforcement. Prediction: whatever he says will boil down to, "Scabs got what they deserve!"

[toolkien]

We have versions of this here in the US. Bars and restaurants get inundated with undesirables, complain to the police and look for protection, and all that happens is the bar or restaurant is closed down. They get their asses taxed, fee'd, and licensed, and when they need help, they get their doors shut. Business is caught in a web of thuggery. Just another link in the chain of why people are not motivated to open businesses.

[SaulOhio]

So what do you think is the cause of all this unemployment? Its the BUSINESS's fault! Let's shut them down! How about if every city in America emulates Detroit's "Operation Compliance"! That will put an end to the unemployment problem!

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

Infringing upon the individual's free association rights has some pretty ugly, yet typically unseen, results for society as a whole.

[MJGreen - Docile Citizen]

Whoa, a union strike turned violent? Are we sure we're getting the whole story here???

[HazelMeade]

I'm sure those were false flags provocateurs planted by the government.

Leftists are only ever peaceful hippies holding hands and beating drums.

[Chip Morningwood Esq]

french taxi drivers? is it possible to not bathe twice as much when you don't bathe at all?

[Vampire]

Uber successful and outcompeting cabbies as uber is rewarded for being good economic actors.

Cabbies lobby gov't to impose regulations against uber to make their service worse.

Uber still succeeding.

Cabbies resort to violence.

Uber banned instead of the violent cabbies that can't compete with uber pop.

[Mindyourbusiness]

On CBS news last night, it was mentioned that French taxi licensing could run as much as $100,000. I can understand why cabbies might be ticked off about Uber-POP on that basis, if the Uber drivers don't get charged the same way.

Maybe if the French statists relaxed the rules (and fees) for everyone, there'd be less violence and better competition.

And maybe Caitlyn Jenner will marry Hillary Clinton...

[Will4Freedom]

I'm out of it, but I thought Jenner liked girls? No?

[Cloudbuster]

Yes. For a long time the "I'm a lesbian woman trapped in a man's body" was kind of a straight guy joke. Now it's reality. "So, you like women, but you want to get your penis chopped off so sex with the women you like is more awkward and artificial. Sure, nothing mentally off about that. You're totally healthy!"

[Rhywun]

Maybe if the French statists relaxed the rules (and fees) for everyone, there'd be less violence and better competition.

If America won't do it, France sure as hell won't either.

[Free ?Woodchippers! Society]

On CBS news last night, it was mentioned that French taxi licensing could run as much as $100,000.

Then the should be attacking government officials, not their competition.

[HazelMeade]

French Taxi drivers have consistently opposed increasing the number of taxi licenses available, which would bring the price down.

[Zeb]

I'm going to be in France next week. I guess I won't use Uber.

I find it striking that the taxi drivers in Europe pretty much blatantly acknowledge that they want the regulations just so they can keep their nice jobs. Seems like in the US they at least pretend it is for some other reason that benefits their customers.

[Rhywun]

I would definitely not patronize a taxicab, myself. I would take transit or find a friend to drive me before giving money to those thugs.

[HazelMeade]

From what I have been told, cab service in France is particularly terrible. The cabs stop working after 9:00 PM, they charge outrageous prices, and there's only about 1/3 of the number needed to meet demand. It's one of the reasons why UberPop continues to operate despite being illegal.

[np]

They have (well, had) 1 million Uber drivers in France, which is pretty surprising. The last article I read on this protest, but prior to this ruling, was that Uber was actually encouraging their French drivers to persist.

The problem with services like Uber is that the authorities can use the same app to easily track you down. There should be a pseudonymous distributed/P2P method for ride sharing. It wouldn't eliminate risk entirely as there's still the risk of moles/snitches but it would sure make the state's work a lot harder.

[Will4Freedom]

If Uber drivers contributed more to the "right people", they wouldn't be getting harassed.

Unions got that whole "steal from the poor and give to the rich" thing down pat.

[mtrueman]

If the Uber drivers are serious about doing business in France, they too will unionize. If they haven't already.

[See Double You]

No. They should continue to break France's arbitrary, unreasonable, unjust, cronyistic laws.

A law that has no basis in protecting individual rights (which do not include freedom from competition) is no law at all.

[HazelMeade]

a presidential decree required non-ride sharing Uber drivers to wait 15 minutes before picking up a hail.

Have we reached peak retardation yet?
We now have a presidential degree (literally, it's been ordered by the dictator I guess), that Uber drivers provide shittier service to as not to threaten the shitty service of the regular cab drivers. Who, apparently, consistently take forever to arrive and don't work after 9:00 PM or on Sundays.

[See Double You]

But, but, social democracy!

[jesse.in.mb]

Squee!

I'm always delighted by French rioting. Flip a Citro?n for me guys.

That is all.

[Cloudbuster]

Ah, progressivism. "Violence is unacceptable. Stop making those violent people angry!"

[bacon-magic]

You know who really caused all this? Voltaire.

[Robert]

Did he flip a Volt into the aire?

[ace_m82]

Well, thank God for the 2nd amendment.

[XM]

Do I have right to use non unionized tax service, which employ drivers as freelancers?

Liberals - "No."

Can I marry three wives or pay money to have sex?

Liberals - "No."

Can I marry a spouse of the same sex?

Liberals - "YES, and that right is sacrosanct and beyond all dispute."

Can I marry 3 same sex partners or have open marriages?

Liberals - "YE - Wait, not you can't. marriage is about monogamy."

[Malvolio]

Those who make violent change possible make peaceful change unnecessary.

[tz]

Je Seuis Uber.