The strikes by taxi drivers in Chongqing seem to be contagious, as similar strikes have broken out this week in Yongdeng, Gansu and Sanya, Hainan Island, China Daily reports:
In Sanya, local police detained 21 people who allegedly became violent during the Monday strike. They reportedly attacked taxi drivers who would not join them in the strike and smashed 15 cabs, a police spokesman told the Xinhua News Agency.
More than 100 cabbies gathered for a second day in front of the city government building, repeating their demands for intervention in issues such as high monthly rental fees and unlicensed cabs, Xinhua said.
[…] In Yongdeng of Gansu province, about 160 taxi drivers agreed to end their strike Tuesday after the county government promised to present a plan within a week to get rid of unlicensed cabs.
The drivers’ representative said there are about 700 illegal cabs, compared with 280 licensed taxis, in the county.
Read also a report in the Economist:
Both in Chongqing and in Sanya, taxi-drivers attacked cars that refused to join the strike. The official press said drivers in Chongqing damaged at least 20 vehicles, including three police cars. In Sanya it reported that 15 cars were attacked, resulting in the arrests of more than 20 people. Since the strike began in Sanya taxi-drivers have been gathering outside the city-government headquarters. By November 11th their numbers had swollen to about 300, according to the state-owned news agency Xinhua. “The government is completely corrupt,” says one of the protesters.
For more on the official media coverage of the taxi strikes and the government’s efforts to use the media to set the agenda of public opinion, see this post from China Media Project.
