Italian tax drivers striking over Uber Files

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 12 - Italian taxi drivers spontaneously stopped their vehicles across the country Tuesday in a protest against the widespread allegedly dishonest practices uncovered in the Uber Files probe.
    The drivers have been protesting for weeks against article 10 of the government's competition bill, whose deregulation they say will open them up to unfair competition from web-based ride-sharing services like Uber.
    "We are protesting to defend public services," they said Tuesday.
    Last week the drivers staged a two-day strike that threatened to turn nasty with bottle-throwing at the premier's office in Rome.
    The Uber Files allegedly show how the ride-hailing start-up begun by Travis Kalanick in San Francisco in 2010 became a global behemoth by harnessing technology, working around laws, and using aggressive lobbying tactics to curry favour with governments during the period of its dramatic expansion. (ANSA).