Taxi Issues 6.7.2008

Last week a dispute between the private taxi industry and the government concerning the opening of public buses on routes previously reserved for taxis spilled into violence. A few taxi drivers were shot, one passed away, and for two days the entire town was incredibly tense. The second day there was a taxi strike, enforced by blockades of minibuses on most of the major roads leading into town. As most of the workforce for the factories located in town actually live in the surrounding villages, there were thousands of people streaming into and out of town on foot all day. I did not get any photos, but imagine the density of the stream of people leaving a professional sporting arena and you get the idea.

I was not directly affected, but a few of our office staff that live in surrounding areas were unable to get into work. One of my co-workers got stranded right outside of town when the minibus she was riding on hit a blockade and the passengers were forced to either get out and walk or ride back to their starting point. As she was calling the office for one of our drivers to come pick her up, shots were fired behind across the street from her. She was fine, and in fact no one was hurt at that time. Later reports indicate it was the police firing into the air to warn taxi owners to stop physically preventing people from boarding a public bus, but accounts vary. By the time I arrived at the office it was a frantic scene as our admin staff tried to track down all of the staff to verify that they were safe. In the end everything died down as quickly as it appeared. Though the conflict was localized to a very small interest group, the number of people forced onto the street and the prevalent mood made for a highly flammable situation.