Greek taxi owners on Tuesday decided to extend their ongoing strike for a further 48 hours, until 5:00 a.m. on Thursday.
Striking taxi drivers staged a protest demonstration on Tuesday morning outside the federation of Attica taxi owners' unions (SATA) headquarters in downtown Athens, off Omonia Square, and from there marched on foot to parliament, in protest of the government's decision to fully liberalise the profession and lift all restrictions on the number of taxi licences issued.
The taxi owners, who launched a 48-hour nationwide strike beginning at dawn on Monday, while reports said the cab owners intended to extend the strike up to and including Friday.
The taxi owners in Athens also plan to demonstrate outside the Infrastructures, Transport and Networks Ministry on Wednesday.
SATA president Thymios Lymberopoulos said that the taxi owners would launch an indefinite strike if the ministry remained unwavering in its positions.
Similar demonstrations were held Tuesday in other cities throughout Greece.
The clash between taxi owners and government has scaled into a head-on collision following new Infrastructures, Transport and Networks minister Yiannis Ragoussis' decision to proceed immediately with full deregulation of the profession, disregarding a Presidential Decree that was being advanced by his predecessor at the ministry, Dimitris Reppas, with which the cab owners had agreed.
ANA-MPA
