600 Taxis Jam N.Y. in Protest of Fare Hike Denial
NEW YORK — A noisy, slow-rolling wave of 600 yellow taxis flooded two main routes into Manhattan on Monday, clogging rush hour traffic and converging on City Hall to protest the city’s refusal to grant a fare increase.
Police helicopters whirred overhead as seven police cruisers escorted a mass of cabs over the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall. A Queens contingent crept past Shea Stadium and La Guardia Airport, swarming over the Triborough Bridge and down Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive along the East River.
Honking horns filled the air as some cabbies pulled over to join 100 people chanting, “We don’t want the TLC (Taxi and Limousine Commission)!” and hoisting placards reading, “K.O.C.H., Keep Our Children Hungry.”
Mayor Edward I. Koch called the threat by protest organizers to stage other strikes “yellowmail.”
The half-day protest ended without arrests.
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