Hundreds of Saudi taxi drivers staged a rare public protest in the capital Riyadh after the government slammed the brakes on an employment drive for Saudi nationals, newspapers said on Thursday. The men parked their taxis near the palace of de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah and presented a complaint signed by 1,200 drivers upset by a delay in steps to phase out foreign taxi drivers, Al-Riyadh newspaper said.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has been trying for years to ease its dependence on foreign labour. It had aimed for 100 percent "Saudisation" of taxi fleets by last week's Islamic New Year.

But Labour Minister Ghazi Algosaibi decided the number of potential Saudi drivers was still too low and set a more modest target of 30 percent for the time being, the papers said.

The Saudi drivers protested, saying they were losing money because of the competition from foreigners - mainly Pakistanis.

Copyright Reuters, 2005