Cabbies' anger at police detention
By Zhang Xuanchen |
January 14, 2011, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A STRIKE by hundreds of taxi drivers in central China's Hubei Province has entered its fifth week with many of them claiming to have been illegally detained.
Several cabbies in Xianning City, who are protesting over a new license policy, said they were detained for several days for allegedly causing social disorder after they took to the streets to voice their anger against a plan to strip them of taxi licenses in 10 years' time, yesterday's Nanfang Daily reported.
Xianning cab regulators said the local government would confiscate all its 456 taxi licenses by 2020 when drivers would have to apply for a new one. By that time, a government-selected company would manage the taxi business and some 200 more cabs would be put on the road.
The plan - meant to produce a "better-regulated and market-oriented cab service" - angered the city's taxi drivers, who stopped work to rally on the streets. The drivers said they had paid at least 300,000 yuan (US$45,464) for a license and the government had no right to take it back when the business was booming.
A driver surnamed Zhou said he was detained for 12 days for leading a crowd singing patriotic songs in front of a government building on December 23.
Meanwhile, another driver surnamed Li was detained for eight days after he took photos of the group singing. Li said at least 16 other petitioners were detained on the same day. A cabbie who declined to give his name said at least 100 drivers were taken away by police before they set off to Wuhan, the provincial capital and Beijing to petition, the newspaper said.
Police in Xianning's Xian'an District confirmed they had detained cab drivers but refused to give details.
Commuters stranded by the strike have lodged online complaints to the government. Currently, about 100 taxis are in service.
The strike is the second large protest by taxi drivers in Hubei. In 2008, some 500 drivers in Suizhou stopped work for almost a week after the government imposed a new license charge. Also that year there were strikes over increased rental fees, high fuel prices and illegal competition in Chongqing Municipality and Hainan and Gansu provinces.
Several cabbies in Xianning City, who are protesting over a new license policy, said they were detained for several days for allegedly causing social disorder after they took to the streets to voice their anger against a plan to strip them of taxi licenses in 10 years' time, yesterday's Nanfang Daily reported.
Xianning cab regulators said the local government would confiscate all its 456 taxi licenses by 2020 when drivers would have to apply for a new one. By that time, a government-selected company would manage the taxi business and some 200 more cabs would be put on the road.
The plan - meant to produce a "better-regulated and market-oriented cab service" - angered the city's taxi drivers, who stopped work to rally on the streets. The drivers said they had paid at least 300,000 yuan (US$45,464) for a license and the government had no right to take it back when the business was booming.
A driver surnamed Zhou said he was detained for 12 days for leading a crowd singing patriotic songs in front of a government building on December 23.
Meanwhile, another driver surnamed Li was detained for eight days after he took photos of the group singing. Li said at least 16 other petitioners were detained on the same day. A cabbie who declined to give his name said at least 100 drivers were taken away by police before they set off to Wuhan, the provincial capital and Beijing to petition, the newspaper said.
Police in Xianning's Xian'an District confirmed they had detained cab drivers but refused to give details.
Commuters stranded by the strike have lodged online complaints to the government. Currently, about 100 taxis are in service.
The strike is the second large protest by taxi drivers in Hubei. In 2008, some 500 drivers in Suizhou stopped work for almost a week after the government imposed a new license charge. Also that year there were strikes over increased rental fees, high fuel prices and illegal competition in Chongqing Municipality and Hainan and Gansu provinces.
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