This situation is ridiculous, both for taxis and the government... and will only serve Uber in the long term. Let's share my view as a Frenchy frog :)

1. Taxi drivers began selling each other taxi driver licenses (although they are obtained for free from the state, on a waiting list). They are angry that Uber registers in a new category, so they "skip" the entry price. But, it's only the taxis fault if they bought licenses and thought they had "value".

2. Violent taxi demonstrations should lead these drivers directly in jail. But it's France, so you don't go to jail... and if you're a lobby (and they clearly are), you even don't get arrested.

3. The government is 100% wrong to side with taxis from day one and punish Uber for the taxi drivers riots, rewarding people who harassed drivers and their customers, destroyed cars and burned streets. It's a huge blow for their popularity which is already very very low. It shows a poor image of the state to both citizens and visitors.

4. People will just stop using taxis more and more. Who wants to be driven by violent guys, and who already are usually bad drivers that even harass people who are not their clients (saw one cab driver last week yell at a woman who was wearing a summer dress)?

5. We're now sure that everybody in France knows about Uber!

(and it's not only about Uber, as there is also a French competitor named https://www.chauffeur-prive.com/ )

Nothing wrong with their orders. Uber is still operating illegally. This is causing public disorder and protests, which is putting lives at risk. I saw a video yesterday where someone dropped a cinder block from a bridge to what they suspect is an Uber car. It seems easier and cheaper to get Uber to comply for now than to stop the protests. The government has to take an action, then have this resolved in the court of law.

In France, rioting is the fourth branch of government.

Thanks for sharing! Interesting thing is that until now, Uber has been paying the drivers' fines for operating illegally while waiting for the court case to be resolved.

If I read the news right yesterday, the ban only apply to Uber Pop and not Uber as a whole.

Anyway, there is no place for such regulation and it's on its way to be terminated soon by some european order, if I recall correctly.

It's weird watching how the media chooses words. Consider the situation of a bunch of people engaging in violence against third parties in order to advance their political agenda.

If the people are Arabs doing it for Islam, it's called "terrorism". If the people are white and doing it for greed masquerading as left wing causes, it's called "protests".

Weird how that works.

A good but unfortunately temporary decision for the working people of France. Good on them.

Learn how to use a smartphone and download the app. Problems solved. I am sure they pay a certain % to w/e Frenchy cab companies anyway akin to infamous Yello-cab in NYC.