The protest by taxi drivers over the alleged beating of a cabby in China's southern Guangdong Province ended on Monday, as the more than 100 protestors dispersed.

The mass incident was triggered by a dispute, in which a cabby surnamed Zhang quarreled with another driver at a toll-gate in the provincial capital Guangzhou. The latter, surnamed Zhen, was joined by two other passengers in beating Zhang, one of whom claimed to be on the staff with local government.

More than 100 taxi drivers crowded at the scene, some of whom were described as so angry that they stopped passing vehicles. Traffic was stopped for a short period.

Police have detained the three people who beat Zhang, and found that they were workers and a business person, rather than government staff. Zhen had been sent to labor education for two years for mass gambling in April 2000.

The protestors began to leave at about 10 a.m. and all left by noon.

Strikes of cab drivers had been reported over the past week from Shantou, Chongqing and Sanya, among others, over rising rental fees and unlicensed taxis.

(Xinhua News Agency November 25, 2008)