France: Striking taxi drivers block Paris ring road over proposed transport law

M/S Taxis with banners on strike
M/S Taxi with banner
M/S Taxis
W/S Taxis
C/U Taxi driver with flare
M/S Taxi driver with flare
SOT, Kader Emana, Member of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union for taxi drivers (French): "We are here against the law LOM, which foresees articles that will poison the taxis. So, we are forced to act. They want to pass the VTC, taxi by equivalence, they want to give them dedicated routes, they want to allow them to charge people in the street, while cursing should only be allowed for taxis. They want to give them a lot of rights but no constraints. They do not have the same obligations as we do, so it's not normal."
M/S Blockade
C/U Protester
W/S Blockade
M/S Sign
W/S Blockade
W/S Blockade
M/S Car with CGT (General Confederation of Labour) banner
SOT, Salah, Taxi driver (French): "Our demand is simply the application of the law. The 'Grand Guillaume' law was passed allowing the coexistence of taxis and VTC. Today this law isn't applied, it is even called into question. Our main demand is the application of the law."
M/S Blockade
W/S Blockade
M/S Police
W/S Blockade
C/U Arm banner reading (French): 'Taxis on strike'
M/S Protester with megaphone
C/U Shirt reading (French): 'Don't touch my taxi'
SOT, Mohammed Benali, Spokesperson for a taxi syndicate in Paris (French): "I do not understand this government moving to a third bill when it already has two of them. Secondly, there is a balance to be found. This balance should not be done by stripping taxis in order to 'dress up' the VTCs. Especially, we want stop this tendency of attracting people towards the lowest. They want to kill the taxis, to make it more precarious, to turn it into a platform for the underemployed. We do not want it. We do not want a platform to decide our work. My job is on the streets, my clients as well. The customer knows how to find a car, we do not need a platform."
M/S Police on the street
W/S Street
SCRIPT
Taxi drivers blocked the peripheral streets around Paris on Monday, to protest against a new transport law (LOM), currently being discussed in the French Parliament.
Taxi-drivers blocked the ring road leading to the city's main airports and neighbouring cities.
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) and other taxi unions called on drivers to protest a law which they believe will ruin the balance between taxis and private minicabs.
"We are here against the law LOM, which foresees articles that will poison the taxis," said a CGT member, adding that they want to give private hire cars (VTC) "rights but no constraints."
According to another taxi-driver on strike "there is a balance to be found," and "this balance should not be done by stripping taxis in order to 'dress up' the VTCs."