10,000 angry cabbies brought Jakarta to a standstill
A massive protest on Tuesday morning paralysed traffic in downtown Jakarta.
10,000 taxi drivers came out in a planned protest against ride-hailing apps like Uber and Grab, which they say have taken business away from them by encroaching on their space.
The drivers blocked traffic down main roads with their cars, and the sheer size of the mob also prevented cars from moving past the blockages.
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The protest, which is five times the size of a similar one last week, was meant to be fairly orderly and had sought police permission before being staged, but reports and social media accounts say it ended up turning violent.
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Drivers marching down the roads attacked other taxis they encountered for not participating in the protest, and cars were damaged in the clash.
Some even showed up to the protest carrying weapons like parangs -- a machete-style knife.
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Drivers of Bajaj auto rickshaws joined the protest as well.
The police had reportedly stationed 200 officers to maintain order outside the office of the communications and information ministry, where representatives of the taxi trade organisation were planning to make their demands heard by the IT minister. They want the ride-hailing apps blocked altogether in the country.
The unrest resulted in public pleas to stop the demonstration trending on social media with hashtags like #StopDemoAnarkis -- literally "stop demonstration anarchy."
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Victoria Ho is Mashable's Asia Editor, based in Singapore. She previously reported on news and tech at The Business Times, TechCrunch and ZDNet. When she isn't writing, she's making music with her band
