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Last update - 17:20 19/06/2008 Taxi and truck drivers protest fuel prices, clog main T.A. artery By Avi Bar-Eli, TheMarker Correspondent Tags: Road Transport Board, Israel  The protest against the climbing fuel prices came to a head Thursday as hundreds of truck drivers, taxi drivers and bus drivers came together to demonstrate their criticism of the state's apparent indifference to the pressing problem. At 2 P.M. convoys of vehicles left from Ashdod, Jerusalem and Haifa, making their way toward Tel Aviv in efforts to converge in Tel Aviv and clog the city's main artery, Ayalon highway, between 3:30 and 5:00 P.M. The police was holding the convoys off, but severe congestion was recorded in sections of the highway. Advertisement The police has authorized 150 trucks, 200 taxis and 50 buses to drive on the highway's rightmost lane and stop between the Halakha and Shalom interchanges. Police directed traffic to alternative routes, and advised commuters to use public transport on Thursday instead of driving into the city. At around 5 P.M., possibly due to the police's request for drivers to stay away from the highway, traffic appeared to be moving along at a normal pace, with slight congestion on the alternate route of the coastal highway. Police prevented hundreds of trucks and taxis from blocking the main highway and escorted them along the sides of the road. A brawl broke out between one of the protesting drivers and a police officer that tried to remove him from the main road. The driver was detained for questioning. The police said that in light of the protesters' loss of control over the orderly conduct of the demonstration and the breach of the terms stated in the authorization for the protest, it was decided to detain several trucks arriving from the coast and from Jerusalem for a short while. The police blocked the vehicles from making their way to the main demonstration area until the organizers of the demonstration agree to the terms agreed upon ahead of time. The terms state that all demonstrating vehicles are authorized to stop between the Halakha and Shalom junctions on the side of the highway, and not in the middle of the highway where they would block the traffic. The Israel Road Transport Board, transport companies and driving instructors are protesting against the sharp rise in fuel prices, high diesel duty and the government's perceived indifference to their plight. "This is the entire public's consumer struggle," Transport Board chairman Gabi Ben-Harush said on Wednesday. "We will all pay for these price hikes in gas stations or supermarkets. But the government is obtuse and dysfunctional in view of the world crisis." Ben-Harush also warned of the fuel price hikes' affect on road safety, explaining that car owners will avoid costly mechanical repairs and taxi drivers will refrain from renewing their car insurance. "The U.S. Senate and French President invited the transport organization leaders in their countries to work out ways of helping them out, but here the government is ignoring the public completely," he added. "Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz is supposed to represent me in the cabinet, but instead he threatens Iran. All kinds of generals and colonels whose salaries are guaranteed and don't care about the public are sitting around [in the Knesset and cabinet]. In a few months they'll be asking the public to vote for them," Ben-Harush said. Two weeks ago, the transporters and haulers launched a campaign to abolish the tariff on diesel and resume government supervision of diesel prices in gas stations, saying that the transportation business is about to collapse due to the huge expenses caused by fuel price hikes. A board spokesman said that when the diesel tax was set in 1999 it comprised nine percent of the transportation input, but has since soared to 40 percent. Diesel prices have risen since 2002 by 460 percent, he said. About two weeks ago Finance Minister Roni Bar-On said that the treasury would not reduce fuel taxes, infuriating the transporters and haulers. A member of the transporters' action committee said: "Treasury officials are obtuse and impervious. Apparently they'll take action only after the entire country is boiling and seething, as has happened in certain European states." "All this could have been avoided had the finance minister agreed to talk to us," said Taxi Drivers' Union chairman Avraham Fried. Related articles: ANALYSIS / When a single comment raises oil costs, market is in trouble U.S. checking possibility of pumping oil from northern Iraq to Haifa, via Jordan Report: Saudis to up oil output in bid to stave off global crisis Bookmark to del.icio.us   Fragile cease-fire Olmert: Gaza cease-fire is fragile, may be short lived. Unbalanced stance Italy FM: EU stance on Israel in past swayed by intolerance.   1.   driving instructors - hutzpa! 07:11  |  Rina 19/06/08   2.   Better cause for protest 09:43  |  HS 19/06/08   3.   FINALLY!!!!THEY MUST HAVE 10:57  |  Robert 19/06/08   4.   Stupid measure: triumph of irrationality 12:19  |  Ulf 19/06/08   5.   English Media/Speakers 12:27  |  Nomi 19/06/08   6.   Didnt know Israels roads were protest grounds 12:34  |  SJ 19/06/08   7.   Ulf #4 You don`t understand economics. 13:36  |  S 19/06/08   8.   SJ is right 14:31  |  Janet Avirami 19/06/08   9.   What, fuel prices are rising? 19:24  |  Axel 19/06/08   10.   Rina, things are even worse in Holland 13:28  |  Benjamina 20/06/08

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