More protests over private-car services like Uber in China

The question of whether China should legalize private-car ridesharing apps like Uber has been a hot topic in tech and transit circles for months, but increasingly it’s spilling over into the streets. Last week, drivers and bystanders protesting the arrest of a Didi Dache private-car driver caused a traffic jam and forced police to intervene. Over the weekend, two more major Chinese cities experienced large-scale protests sparked by private-car ridesharing apps.

According to reports on Weibo, another large-scale protest unfolded on Friday night in Hangzhou after several taxi drivers reportedly ‘hooked’ a private-car driver by booking him through an app and then handing him over to transit authorities when he showed for the pickup. Private-car drivers responded by showing up on the scene en masse, refusing to let transit authorities take the car away. After causing a four-hour traffic jam, the incident was finally broken up by riot police. During the protest Uber apparently sent a message to its Hangzhou drivers (pictured) warning them to stay away from protests and threatening to use GPS data to identify and cut ties with any drivers found to be sticking around the scenes of a mass incident. The message ends: “If you are on the scene, please leave immediately. Trust Uber.”

On Monday, a similar scene played out Wuhan, where Caixin reports and videos show bystanders and drivers protesting authorities as they attempt to arrest a private-car driver. The situation reportedly got out of control, with police forced to fire warning shots in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

Like last week’s protests in Guangzhou, both incidents this weekend were sparked by the arrest of a private-car driver for operating an illegal cab. And both incidents also led to demonstrations so large that riot police had to be called in to manage the crowds. Uber is apparently already spooked enough that it’s threatening to fire drivers who participate in protests, and with good reason. If things are regularly escalating to the point that riot police need to be called for what should be routine traffic enforcement, Chinese authorities may consider cracking down hard on the source of all these protesters: private-car ridesharing apps like Uber.