The Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM) apprehended five taxi cab drivers today for their involvement in the protest held this afternoon in Bukit Bintang against ride-sharing services Uber and GrabCar.
The Malay Mail Online‘s Mayuri Mei Lin reports that police officers were forced to arrest the cabbies as they had prevented the police from carrying out their duties in handling the protest.
“At 1200 hours, a group of taxi drivers were asked to disperse but there were some of them who prevented the police from carrying out their duties,” said Dang Wangi police chief ACP Zainol Samah.
“As many as five Malay men aged between 30-50 were arrested for obstructing on-duty police and two taxis were confiscated for blocking the road.”
The protest, which began at 10.30am, saw some 100 taxi cabs camping outside the Fahrenheit88 shopping mall, obstructing traffic and causing citywide gridlock.
As they have declared before, the cabbies (and the taxi companies they work for) were protesting the alleged unfair and unregulated competitive edge afforded to popular ride-sharing apps like Uber and GrabCar.
Cab companies have also been critical of the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and its arbitration in the dispute between traditional taxi services and their app-based competitors.
Today’s protest was the most visible since last November, when cabbies parked their taxis and marched on foot from Padang Merbok to the Parliament building in advocacy of the same cause.
