German taxi drivers took to the streets in cities nationwide on Wednesday, calling for stricter regulations for car-hire services such as Uber.
Taxis paraded through the western cities of Dortmund and Dusseldorf in the morning. Further protests were planned in the capital Berlin as well as other major cities including Stuttgart, Mainz and Cologne.
They followed rallies in financial hub Frankfurt on Tuesday.
“We are demanding equality of arms: minimum prices for everyone, not just for us,” said Michael Oppermann, managing director of the German Taxi and Rental Car Association.
In the capital Berlin, where the largest demonstration was expected with about a thousand vehicles, taxis paraded through the Tiergarten park, which is next to the parliament building.
The industry sees car-hire platforms such as Uber and Bolt as unfair competition because their prices are not regulated by the authorities.
They are therefore calling on local authorities to introduce minimum prices for the platforms.
“We have nothing against competition. But it’s only fair to have this with more closely aligned prices,” Oppermann said.
The head of Bolt in Germany, Christoph Hahn, has rejected this measure, saying: “Minimum prices will not save the taxi industry.”
“Such a measure would only be at the expense of consumers, who would then probably switch back to their own cars,” he said in a press release.
