Taxi drivers from across Europe caused huge tailbacks and blocked off
Brussels airport as they descended on the EU capital on Wednesday to
oppose the rise of Uber, the controversial ride-sharing app.
The
international convoy of around 300 taxis with horns beeping crawled into
the city's busy European quarter in hopes of meeting Belgian and EU
officials, bringing traffic on main roads to a standstill.
Air
travellers were forced to end their journey escorted on foot by police
after drivers blocked the motorway exit to the airport, a distance of
around a kilometre (half a mile), the Belga news agency said.
"We
come from Madrid, Barcelona, to defend a Europe free from Uber," said
Concha Guardado, a cab driver from Spain, with taxis from France and
Britain also present.
"Today it is the taxi drivers protesting, but soon it will be other professions," a Brussels taxi driver told AFP.
Across
the globe, Uber has angered traditional taxi operators who say it
represents unfair competition because Uber drivers can flout the rules
and restrictions that regulate the professionals.
Their anger has
often boiled over, notably in Paris where rioting by taxi drivers and
the arrest of two Uber executives in June led the company to suspend its
lower cost UberPOP service.
Uber awaits a French court decision
it hopes will strike down a law passed by the French government that
sharply restricts its activities.
Meanwhile, a Spanish court has
asked the EU's top court to decide whether Uber is a technology
application or an old-fashioned transport company that would require far
stricter regulation.
Anticipating these court decisions, Uber has
launched an upmarket alternative service called UberX in several
European markets which requires professionally licensed drivers.