The strike of the Taxi of Madrid is radicalized after a week without progress

The strike of the Taxi of Madrid is radicalized after a week without progress

The shooting of a VTC driver raises the tension of a conflict that is now going to be fought in the heart of the city

  The taxi strike in Madrid is historic, both because of its magnitude and its radical nature. Never before the guild had stopped so long, never before had starred in so many actions with that unanimity and never before the drivers had been so violent. The stoppage to demand that obstacles be put to the VTC is its first week . Seven very intense days on the street, but they have not caused progress. A dozen of cuts of key arteries of the city "among them the M-40, main way of circumvallation); some thirty wounded between the security forces and the demonstrators in the loads of the riot police; five detainees and fifty attacks of Uber or Cabifiy vehicles, as reported by VTC associations, have not changed things much.

 The taxi drivers who threatened last Thursday with a seem to intend to fulfill their order. The conflict has gone, and threatens to grow in intensity. And especially in radicality. The Government Delegation considers in the last hours with real concern the look that events are taking, especially after the night of Saturday some strangers that circulated through the Avenida del Mediterráneo in Madrid, one of the access roads to the center of the capital.

Point-blank
According to sources of the Free Trade Union of Transport, the attackers put themselves up to Uber's vehicle and shot point-blank at the driver. The impacts, according to the images provided by the union, destroyed the window. And although the injuries are of a mild nature. The vehicle circulated with a passenger who was unharmed in the action.

Image of the VTC attack with pellet shots
Image of the attack to the VTC with firing shots / EFE
 Just a little earlier, the complaint filed before the police by another VTC driver had been known, in this case Cabify, who said he had been ambushed by other taxi drivers in the vicinity of Ifema, who threw "balines" at him, before that protesters ram into another VTC vehicle. The night from Saturday to Sunday were rental with driver. In total, the VTC sector claims to have suffered more than a hundred assaults in the last week, while the five associations calling the strikes remember that one of its taxi drivers is still in an induced coma after being hit by a VTC and that the injured comrades in the charges are counted by tens.

Reinforce the cravat
  Despite the personal wear and tear and the violent episodes are undermining their image before the public, the five platforms that lead the protest (the Professional Federation of the Taxi of Madrid (FPTM), the Auto Taxi Association of Madrid, the Madrilenian Association of Taxi, Élite Taxi Madrid and the Plataforma Caracol Association) continue with the idea of ​​reinforcing their order, especially trying to bring the conflict to the center of the capital of Spain.

After seven days encamped in the surroundings of Ifema, where Fitur and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week were held this week, and where taxi drivers managed to block any surface connection between the fairgrounds and the city center, the strikers decided to move early Sunday morning his "base camp" to the Paseo de la Castellana , very close to the Plaza de Colón, the main artery that crosses from north to south the center of Madrid and through which usually circulate tens of thousands of private vehicles .

 The taxi drivers - who began to set up their tents and who, after demonstrating in front of the headquarters of the PP in Genoa street, announced that they will remain camped sine die-cut from this Sunday the six central lanes of the boulevard, reducing the circulation to only the lateral A situation that, without a doubt, this Monday, with the usual traffic, will cause countless traffic problems.

 This new measure of pressure, which was supported in situ by the head of Podemos Rafa Mayoral, who harangued the strikers to continue protesting against them seeks to start concessions to the regional government of Angel Garrido, who from the beginning has been against establishing limitations to the VTC. The only gesture so far of the Community has been to offer a ban on users being able to hire VTC with their App that are at a distance that taxi drivers consider insufficient.