Palma left without taxis as cabbies protest over killing

PRACTICALLY all of Palma's taxi drivers yesterday took part in an hour's stoppage, between 12 and 1pm, to protest at the murder of a taxi driver in Bilbao on Monday. They were also demanding better safety measures for the profession. This stoppage had a great impact on the normal service at this time of day as there were no taxis operating in the capital. The action had its biggest impact at Palma airport where all the taxi drivers in the area supported the protest. Another 200 taxi drivers demonstrated at the headquarters of the Small and Medium Sized Business Association (PIMEM), situated in the calle Julian Lagarde in the Son Oliva district of Palma, where they also took part in a minute's silence at 1pm, called for at national level by the Spanish Taxi Confederation, to mark the end of the protest. The President of the PIMEM-Taxis organisation and Vice President of the Taxi Confederation, Biel Moragues, said he was very satisfied with the wide support for the protest. But he called on the government and city council to provide more financial aid for installing protective screens and GPS in cabs.