Seattle anarchist group’s latest foe is ‘disgusting tech company’ Uber

An anarchist group says it has a new target: Uber. The group, called “Counterforce,” claimed to have stopped 10 Seattle Uber cars on Saturday night.

On a Wordpress blog where the incident was documented, the group called Uber, “one of the most disgusting tech companies in existence.” It goes on to say that multiple families will lose a big part of their monthly income when Uber overtakes smaller taxi services.

Detective Mark Jamieson from the Seattle Police Department told Valleywag on Monday that the protest Saturday hadn’t come to his attention. Jamieson asked, “Are you sure that it was in Seattle?”

Uber driver Amanuel Haile told KING 5 he’s preparing for trouble.

Haile said that if he was approached by a protester while he’s working, “I have to protect the passenger for sure, ask ‘What is this about?’ and stay calm.”

Uber posted a response to the protest on Saturday in their blog:

We’ve confirmed that one Uber partner driver, the one pictured in various blog posts, was temporarily interrupted from providing service during Saturday’s protest. While Uber supports community action and political movements that work towards a common goal, there is no place for violence or scare tactics used against hard working Seattlites in modern discourse. Tens of thousands of residents in Seattle have voiced their support for the ridesharing economy and thousands more are benefiting, both as riders and drivers, from transportation competition and choice. […]

Uber has been part of the Seattle community for years – we live, breath and work in and around Seattle. We’re your neighbors, friends and colleagues. We love this city like you do and we are here to stay. We want to be part of the community dialogue and our door is always open.

With May Day approaching, Seattle Police have said if your Uber car is attacked, stay in it and call 911.

KIRO Radio’s Frank Shiers contributed to this report.