Taxi drivers are protesting against Uber.
About a hundred taxi drivers from Zagreb, Split, Dubrovnik, Pula and other Croatian towns have organised an unannounced protest against Uber on Wednesday morning, reports Index.hr on June 21, 2017.
More taxi drivers are expected to join the protest later during the day. They have blocked traffic on Vukovar Street by parking their cars in two traffic lines along the street in both directions. Vukovar Street is one of the main avenues in Zagreb, which is usually jam packed with cars anyway. Many people will be late for work today.
“After two years of the non-functioning of the state and the disrespect of the law, we have nothing else to do. This is a spontaneous gathering to express dissatisfaction since Uber is doing business illegally. People love to hate taxi drivers, but that is a consequence of some events from history. However, we are doing business legally, while Uber is illegal. We also have apps, some are better, and some are worse. That is nothing innovative or modern. Uber is innovative only when it comes to breaking the law,” said one of the protesters.
“The Croatian Chamber of Crafts and Trades supports its members because we are legal. Uber is breaking the laws and does not respect the laws of my homeland. This is not a political, but a legal question. No one can come here and disrespect Croatian laws. These people here respect the rules. We demand from the government to start legal mechanisms and ban the platform which encourages illegal work,” he added.
“We are doing a spontaneous gathering here,” said a taxi driver to Index reporters, when asked if they reported their protest to the police. “You people from Index, everything is funny to you. But, if these crooks were taking your bread, then it would not be funny”, he snapped. “You are concerned with whether the protest has been registered, and Uber has been operating illegally for two years.”
“You should be hammered down,” said one of the taxi drivers to the Index reporter. “You should write the truth, and not what someone will pay to be published.”
There was a commotion, and someone called on the spontaneously gathered taxi drivers to go for a coffee. But, one taxi driver approached Index journalist Vojislav Mazzoco, insulted him and punched his equipment. “You are bastards,” the taxi driver said, hitting the Index reporter’s equipment.
The police just stood quietly a few feet away and did not react.
The video of the incident can be seen here.
