Police fire tear gas at taxi drivers in Paris Uber protest

Tuesday’s demonstrations coincide with a series of strikes staged by air traffic controllers, civil servants, and teachers across France.

French riot police and firefighters intervened to clear a busy Paris ring road at rush-hour on Tuesday after taxi drivers angry about competition from private auto ride firms like Uber threw tyres across the roadway and set them alight.

The taxi drivers have blocked a major intersection leading into western Paris.

Nineteen protesters were arrested, police said.

According to Rachid Boudjema, the president of Marseille’s taxi drivers collective, Uber workers “vandalize professionals who are paying taxes, who respect the rules”.

Meanwhile some 5.6 million civil servants were called to down tools to protest reforms that have already seen €7 billion (US$7.6 billion) in austerity cuts.

Tuesday’s industrial action, which France24 reports is set to be “massive”, follows violent protests by taxi drivers in June 2015, fueled by anger at Uber’s low-priced UberPOP service, which allowed anyone to use a personal vehicle to pick up customers.

Air France says it will guarantee all long-haul flights tomorrow as well as 80 percent of short- and medium-haul flights, though it warned that last minute cancellations can’t be excluded.

PARIS (AP) — Paris taxi drivers have resumed a strike protesting against rival services such as Uber, and city authorities are warning of roadblocks and traffic disruptions.

Dozens of taxi drivers tried to march from the Porte Maillot intersection on to an eight-lane bypass, but police pushed them back with tear gas.

The San Francisco-based company finally shut down UberPOP in July after two of its French bosses were arrested and charged with “misleading commercial practices (and) complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi profession”.

Demonstrators claim that drivers for Uber, the American company that recently reached 1 billion rides, and their ilk arebreaking rules that prohibit them from cruising the streets for fares and also hold an unfair advantage against taxi drivers who must pay for costly licenses.

Uber has faced legal challenges from governments all around Europe.

They also denounce the loss of some 1,000 jobs in less than 10 years. Schools had to contend with no-shows by teachers protesting against the reorganization of language learning and other aspects of secondary schooling, and also to demand that the government loosen a wage cap.