Taxi strike enters 5th day ahead of ministry-unions talks

(ANSA) - Rome, February 20 - Taxi drivers were on strike for the fifth consecutive day across Italy on Monday as part of a protest in response to an amendment that would deregulate the sector enabling a wider use of Uber.
    Taxi service will continue to be offered to and from hospitals and for the disabled.
    Taxi unions will meet on Tuesday in Rome, as announced in recent days by Transport Minister Graziano Delrio.
    A rental car driver in Milan has been reported to the police for threats after pointing a pistol - later found to be a toy - at taxi drivers who had thrown eggs at his car around 4 am. The man was tracked down by police shortly thereafter. In recent days, several Uber drivers have had their vehicles damaged and been targeted by the egg throwing from the taxi drivers on strike. The Naples strike started around 8 am on Monday ahead of the meeting at the transport ministry in the Italian capital on Tuesday. Announcements are posted at the Capodichino airport detailing how to get around the city without taxis. Service will be provided to the disabled, the elderly who require assistance and doctors that have to get to hospitals and healthcare centers, taxi drivers in the city said. Delrio commented by saying that "tomorrow we will look into why there is a situation that has long not been regulated" as concerns taxi drivers, and "come up with a regulation that is finally serious and takes away the temporary nature of the current situation". He added that "guarantees are needed. On the one hand are the rights of citizens and on the other the rights of those who have invested in their business, the taxi drivers".