Thousands of taxi drivers in China's eastern city of Hangzhou went on strike Monday over high petrol prices and traffic congestion, while drivers in Shanghai also protested over benefits.

In Hangzhou, drivers parked their cars at several locations in the city, a major tourist centre, while others simply stayed on the road and refused to take passengers, state media and taxi company officials said.

Some media estimates put the number of strikers as high as 4,000 drivers. Police declined to comment.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited a driver as saying his income had been hurt by high fuel prices and traffic jams, which limit the number of passengers he can pick up during a shift.

"We know the strike is going on. We told our drivers not to participate," an official from the Hangzhou Jingwei Taxi Company, who declined to be named, told AFP.

Hangzhou, known for the scenic West Lake, deployed extra police and closed some roads because of the strike, whose start coincided with the morning rush hour.

Calls circulated anonymously on the Internet for the Hangzhou strike to continue for a total of three days.

In Shanghai, drivers from one of the city's smaller taxi companies, Fuxin, parked along a major road in a western suburb with signs posted in their windows protesting what they claimed was a lack of retirement benefits, local media reported. The company said it was negotiating with the drivers.

In April, truck drivers in Shanghai also went on strike over rising fuel costs, disrupting operations at the city's ports.

China's consumer price index rose an annual 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in three years, and the government is worried about the potential for rising prices to cause social unrest.

earlier related report
China jailing Nobel winner broke international law: UN
Hong Kong (AFP) Aug 1, 2011 - A United Nations panel has called for the release of jailed Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace prize laureate Liu Xiaobo and his wife, saying their detention breaks international law.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention criticised Liu's pre-trial detention, saying he was held "incommunicado" and denied access to a lawyer before being sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2009 on charges of subversion.

The writer, now 55, had co-authored Charter 08, a manifesto that quickly spread on the Internet calling for political reform and greater rights in Communist-ruled China.

The UN panel, an independent body made up of human rights experts from five countries, urged Beijing to "take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, which include the immediate release and adequate reparation to Mr Liu Xiaobo".

"The government has not shown in this case a justification for the interference with Mr Liu Xiaobo's political free speech," it said in a written opinion dated May 5 and released on Monday by legal rights group Freedom Now.

The paper said China was "in violation of its international human rights obligations", noting that Liu, 55, had just 14 minutes to defend himself at his two-hour trial.

The panel also criticised the house arrest of Liu's wife, Liu Xia, saying she "has the right to be brought promptly before a judge, and the right to legal counsel". She was placed under house arrest after Liu was jailed.

Freedom Now founder Jared Genser called the UN decision a "critical affirmation" that the couple's detention is a "flagrant violation" of international law.

The group called on UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to join the call for their release.

The decision to award Liu with the prestigious prize last year sparked fury in Beijing, which equated the Oslo-based Nobel committee's decision with encouraging crime.

China, which faced global criticism over the case, responded by cancelling political dialogue with Norway and suspending talks on a free trade pact.

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