UberPOP suspended in France following taxi-driver fury

Uber said Friday it was suspending its controversial low-cost UberPOP service in France, six months after it was banned and following a spate of strikes by taxi drivers.

"Uber has decided to immediately suspend UberPOP in France," the US company said in a statement, adding that it was waiting for a ruling on whether the service is legal, due by September.

UberPOP puts customers in touch with private drivers at budget prices.

It has angered taxi drivers who say it represents unfair competition because the UberPOP drivers do not face the same regulations and pricing restrictions.

Protests turned violent last week, with cars set alight and reports of UberPOP passengers being attacked.

The decision to suspend the service "follows the acts of violence of the past two weeks", said Uber in the statement.

UberPOP was made illegal in January, but the law has proved difficult to enforce and the service has continued to operate. The law is currently being reviewed by the Constitutional Court.

Two Uber bosses were arrested this week and will go on trial in September, charged with "misleading commercial practices, complicity in the illegal exercise of the taxi profession and illegal use of private data", the Paris prosecutor said.