Chinese taxi drivers drinks poison in protest!
Beijing Police found on Saturday 4th April 2015, 39 disgruntled taxi drivers lying on the ground on Wangfujing Avenue, a prosperous commercial district just a few blocks from Tiananmen Square, with bottles of pesticide beside them. They were rushed to local hospitals where they are out of danger according to police.
Apparently the Chinese taxi drivers were unhappy against the vehicle leasing rules and drank poison to attract world attention, and highlight their grievances. The regulations which came to effect from 2011 force taxi drivers to lease taxis through government appointed taxi operators.
Photos of unconscious drivers were circulated on Weibo China’s main Twitter like micro blogging arena, but censors removed them immediately yesterday.
The drivers travelled to Beijing from Suifenhe City, North Eastern Heliongjiang province to submit their petition to central government against ban on drivers owning and operating their own taxis.
Suifenhe borders with Russia, has suffered from the falling rouble and with taxi drivers getting fewers fares from visiting Russian businessmen.