Uber Managers In France Arrested

Two Uber France managers have been taken into custody on Monday, consistent with Agence France-Presse. The arrests come days after French cabbies violently protested the journey-sharing service by blocking off major thoroughfares in Paris and attacking Uber drivers.

Uber France CEO Thibaud Simphal and Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty, the overall supervisor of Uber’s Western Europe division, had been charged for “illegal taxi operations” and for “concealing digital paperwork”, TechCrunch reports. An Uber spokesperson confirmed the next to TechCrunch: “Our CEO for France and our common manager for Western Europe have been invited to an interview by means of the police this afternoon; following this interview, they had been taken into custody.”

UberPOP, the eu version of UberX, has persisted to operate in France for the reason that its launch remaining year, regardless of being banned back in January. French taxi drivers have long regarded as UberPOP unfair competition, since its drivers aren’t required to bear the identical training or pay the licensing and insurance coverage fees that cabbies are subjected to. based on ultimate week’s protests, French interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve demanded that police crack down on UberPOP straight away, and 200 additional officers had been recruited to guide the cost.

The arrests of Simphal and Gore-Coty don’t look like because of the the up to date protests—though they probably put force on authorities to quash Uber’s presence in France. After UberPOP was banned in January, an appeals courtroom decided that Uber may keep running unless a new decision is made in September. according to TechCrunch, Simphal additionally advised newshounds final week that UberPOP would raise on unless a court order dictated in any other case.

[by way of Engadget]