Uber's service is illegal in most places, including the US. However they grew and became popular fast enough that it put pressure on local governments to change the laws, rather than put pressure on them to ban Uber. It's basically their business model.

Apparently this didn't work as well in France as it did in the US.

Uber has evolved from simple ridesharing into a real livery. That part of Uber is not illegal in most places. UberPop is the reincarnation of the original Uber. That is illegal almost everywhere. The taxis aren't protesting Uber. They don't like them but as long as they follow the law they'll have to live with it. What they are up in arms over is UberPop.

Anywhere in the world you take money you are now engaged in commerce. And you have to follow the rules on commerce. Even the kid that delivers your pizza has to have auto insurance that covers delivery.

Uber is legal in France, UberPop, in its current implementation, is not.

Why aren't French entrepreneurs rioting in the streets to protest against protectionist laws that primarily serve to shield incumbents from competition?

> French entrepreneurs

France doesn't have as many start-up guys and girls as you probably think and besides that they probably do not feel that uberpop is entirely without blame in how this all played out.

And if they start rioting they end up in jail.

Well, because most of europe doesn’t have a buzzword fueled start-up bubble like the US has.

Without a real, profitable business model, you won’t even get a loan from a bank here, not to talk about other investors.

From what "aikah" posted below, it sounds like shielding consists of requiring proper driver training, equivalent of commercial insurance on the vehicle, and license (which probably involves some mandatory maintenance, as commercially utilized vehicles tend to have higher mileage and higher level of abuse than personal vehicles).

Compliance with all the requirements, however, removes the economic advantage.

Probably because multi-billion dollar international companies can take care of themselves.

They all moved to SF.