Romanian taxi drivers initiated a hunger strike on Wednesday after three days of organized protests and unsuccessful negotiations with the government. The extreme move involves about a dozen people, according to the National Association of the Employers of Transport Operators in the Taxi Regime (ANPOTRT), which leads the protests.
Meanwhile, other taxi drivers blocked traffic in front of the government building in Victory Square in Bucharest.
The protesters demand raising the upper age limit for taxis from 10 to 15 years, abolishing the dynamic pricing system for Uber and Bolt, and establishing equal taxes and fees for ride sharing service providers.
"Move away. Go to work"; "You've made my way home a two-hour journey", were some of the reactions of residents of the capital, who found themselves stuck in huge traffic jams and were directed by traffic police to make detours.
The gendarmerie asked the demonstrators to withdraw from Victory Square as they had no permission from City Hall to stage a rally there.
"The gendarmerie is not in a position to allow you to protest. Let us stay civil," one of the negotiating law enforcers said. No clashes occurred with the officers in charge of public order.
A taxi driver commented for BTA that the rally in Victory Square was spontaneous. "We will now drive around town. I hope we get permission from City Hall promptly for another series of protests," he said.
ANPOTRT head Remus Nedelcu said: "We will not give up until the prime minister comes forward and tells us he will issue the necessary order in three, five or seven days. When I went to the government offices earlier today, they acted as if they knew nothing and were only beginning to realize what was happening, and asked for another month until they make a proposal. This cannot happen because there will be no one to talk to a month or a month and a half from now. An election campaign will have started, it will be impossible to issue extraordinary ordinances at the national level. Everything will fall to pieces, literally."
Another 1,300 protesters gathered in Constitution Square in front of the Parliament building in Bucharest. Hundreds of taxi drivers had demonstrated there since Monday.
/NZ/
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