Guangzhou Taxi Driver Strike (With Video)
Cabbies in Guangzhou took to the streets Monday to protest the alleged beating of a fellow cab driver by a government official yesterday evening. The cab driver was beaten by three men after a traffic accident. Related photos, video clips and blog posts were all over Chinese cyberspace. The official media also quickly put out its own version of this protest. Read these stories from Xinhua and Shanghai Daily.
With a worsening global economy and manufacturing jobs hit hard in China, increasing social unrest is becoming a real concern of Chinese officials. From Reuters:
China has urged local officials to provide citizens with proper outlets to air public grievances to avoid violent unrest as the country faces the prospect of higher unemployment amid a global economic slowdown.
China has been hit by taxi driver strikes, protests by laid-off workers and rioting involving thousands of people in one northwestern city in recent weeks, as export-driven growth slows and companies shed staff.
The incidents have remained isolated and targeted local governments and companies but have prompted security officials to issue warnings to officials to take a light hand when dealing with social issues.
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[...] –Video footage of Monday’s taxi driver protests in Guangzhou. [China Digital Times] [...]
[...] is going to happen when more and more factories close? Chinese workers have learnt that collective [protest] action is effective,” asks Jerome Cohen, a Chinese law expert at New York [...]