Paris, France - French interior minister Bernard Cazeneuve has launched legal action targeting local managers of US-based ride-sharing service Uber, denouncing the attitude of the company as “cynical” and “arrogant”.
The French government had already ordered a nationwide clampdown on Uber’s Pop mobile app-based service on Thursday, siding with taxi drivers who blockaded major transport hubs in protests against the service.
Faced with the threat of renewed disruption, even president Francois Hollande weighed in, calling from the sidelines of a late-night European Union summit in Brussels for the dissolution of UberPop's activities in France.
Cazeneuve said: “We are in a state of law and the law will rule.”
An October 2014 law placed a ban on putting clients in touch with unregistered drivers. However, Uber is contesting the rule, saying it is unclear and counter to the freedom to do business. A constitutional ruling is expected around September.
BANNED BY DECREE
On Thursday Cazeneuve ordered Paris police to issue a decree banning UberPop and said cars defying the order would be impounded. Uber France general manager Thibaud Simphal retorted by saying the measures “changed nothing” and that demand for its services in France would continue.
Cazeneuve said: “The complaint I filed yesterday is wide enough to cover the statements of UberPop managers,” adding that inciting people to defy the ban was in itself “a criminal offence”.
An Uber spokesman on Thursday accused the French government of seeking to interfere in the course of justice.
UberPop links drivers of private cars with potential passengers at cheaper rates than conventional cabs and has already come under political and legal scrutiny in France.
Reuters