More than thirty Chinese taxi drivers tried to kill themselves in an attempted mass suicide outside the Wangfujing shopping center in Beijing.

According to investigation, some taxi drivers were found unconsciously lying on the busy street of Beijing after drinking bottles of pesticides. Some had froths outside their mouths due to the strong chemicals that they drank.

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All the drivers were taken to the hospital and no one was seriously hurt.

The incident had gone viral in online social media sites. Photos of these unconscious drivers from behind police cordons were posted in the Internet.

Based on police reports, the involved taxi drivers were all from Suifenhe, Heilongjiang which already borders Russia. Their attempted mass suicide was their way of protesting against China's policy in renewing the licenses of taxi drivers.

"We arrived by train on Monday but got no response after taking our complaint to both the State Bureau for letters and calls, and the Ministry of Transport," said one of the protesting drivers.  

According to reports, the disgruntled drivers are "independent" drivers and are not working under taxi operating companies. Because of this, they were required to obtain contracts from government-appointed agencies.

Under China's policy, taxi drivers are prohibited to work as independent or individual drivers. They have to be employed under licensed taxi companies. If not, they are required to have contracts with operating agencies that are government appointed. If they will not comply with the policy, their driver's license will not be renewed and they will be asked to leave the industry with compensation from the government.

Meanwhile, mass suicide is not something new in China when it comes to mass protest actions against the government.

Last July, seven protesters together drank pesticide outside the newspaper office of China Youth Daily in Beijing. They lambasted the local government for allegedly grabbing their lands.

Tagstaxi driver, mass suicide