No Palma taxis until midnight tomorrow

Palma was left without a taxi service yesterday as the all of the city's cabbies backed the all out strike until midnight tomorrow. Despite the three taxi drivers arrested on Wednesday afternoon at the airport after scuffles broke out between cabbies and the police, having been released, the capital's cabbies have backed this latest wave of industrial action in protest over the way the three detainees were treated by the National Police. President of the taxi association, Gabriel Moragues, said yesterday that the 48-hour all out strike has not been called by the association, but orchestrated unanimously by themselves “in protest over the way their colleagues were treated by the police.” Yesterday morning nearly 700 taxis gathered at Palma airport and the lack of cabs in the city put the EMT public bus service under extreme pressure as, despite complaints from bus passengers, the public bus service only increased services on the number 17 airport bus route. The taxi association has announced that a total of 40 taxis would be in operation, 35 in the city and five at the airport, but it appears that most of those drivers joined their colleagues in protest. There were no repeats of Tuesday's violence yesterday - although Moragues is still threatening to press charges against the police officers involved in the scuffles for mistreating one of the taxi drivers arrested. This morning the Mayor of Palma Joan Fageda will lead a delegation to Madrid for talks with the with the Minister for Development, Alvarez Cascos, with the aim of having the recent change in the law, which has ended Palma taxi drivers' exclusive right to collect passengers at ports of entry, overruled in a bid to bring an end to the crisis in Majorca.