Italy’s taxi drivers keep protesting, fear new competition

ROME (AP) — Hundreds of taxi drivers in Italy are protesting for a second day against the government’s plans to allow more competition. Since Tuesday, a handful of drivers have been chained together in protest in the square outside Premier Mario Draghi’s office in Rome. Nearby in the main street, hundreds of drivers from Rome and Naples demonstrated noisily for hours. In Turin, more than 200 drivers parked their taxis in protest in a main square. In Milan, taxi drivers planned an assembly later Wednesday to decide protest plans. The drivers oppose opening Italy to ride-sharing operators like Uber but Italy faces European Union insistence to allow more competition in general in its business sectors.