Taxi drivers working in Istanbul gathered in central ÇaÄŸlayan Square on Sunday to protest pirate cabbies in Istanbul, which allegedly undercut regular taxi drivers’ incomes, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Some of the drivers participated in the gathering with their families. “No to pirate cabbies,” “Protect the rights of taxi drivers,” “Get your hands of my bread you thief,” were among the banners drivers displayed. Others chanted slogans like “We want a ban against pirates,” “Government, hand the pirates over to us.”

“The reason we are here, my dear Prime Minister, is because of those thieves, brazen-faced people and bandits who are in the taxi business under the name of a ‘Rent-a-Car’ [business],” said Fahrettin Can, the head of the Taxi Cooperatives of Atatürk Airport, addressing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip ErdoÄŸan. “We cannot bring bread to our houses. Just as you stopped pick-pocketing, you can stop this theft too,” he said.

Opposition Republican People’s Party, or CHP, deputy Mehmet Sevigen, ÅžiÅŸli district Mayor Mustafa Sarıgül and the actors of a TV series about taxi drivers participated in the gathering as well.

There are 25,000 pirate cabbies in Istanbul, Can said. The number of official taxis throughout Turkey is around 95,000, with around 19,000 in Istanbul, the daily Milliyet reported. The numbers of pirate cabbies are already much more than the official cabbies.

Can also reminded participants about the murders of taxi drivers in his speech. “Are taxi drivers not humans?” Can asked, adding that the cars that were used in Münevver Karabulut’s murder and the attack against the American consulate in Istanbul were pirate cabbies. Closing one’s eyes to pirate cabbies is unacceptable when there is unemployment, he said. Can also criticized the rate at which taxi prices have increased. Though fares have risen by 8 percent in the last 23 months, there has been an even more expensive rise in compulsory traffic insurance.

Mustafa Silahyürekli, the deputy head of the Istanbul Taxi Drivers Chamber, said the people “stealing our bread are cowards,” adding that pirate cabbies could be stopped by changes in regulations. Hakan Yılmaz, who organized the gathering, said many people would quit the profession if there were no measures taken to rectify the situation. Yılmaz said his colleagues could neither pay rent for their houses nor school expenses for their children.

Meanwhile, Zeki Alasya, a prominent actor who stars in a TV series called “Akasya Durağı” about taxi drivers also addressed the crowd. “We are with you so that you take what you deserve in a country that is administered by rules,” he said