A man who answered the telephone at the Zhenqiao Taxi Company in Shantou, a city in Guangdong province, said taxi drivers overturned several cars - illegal cabs and taxis that did not participate in the strike - on Thursday, when the unrest began.

Police led a handful of people away, said the man, who refused to give his name because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The official Xinhua News Agency said 500 striking taxi drivers gathered for two days in a square across from the municipal building.

"Many, many people were involved in the strike," the man at Zhenqiao Taxi said. "Drivers are unhappy about illegal cabs or private cars who use the number plates of legal taxis."

He refused to say if his company was taking part in the strike or give any other details.

Xinhua said local leaders had met with representatives of taxi companies and promised a six-month crackdown on unlicensed cabs.

A man at the Shantou Taxi Management Center, which oversees the city's cabs, said things were slowly returning to normal Saturday. He did not want to be identified because he said he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Telephone calls to the Shantou police and the Shantou government rang unanswered.

The protest came on the heels of a strike in the southwestern city of Chongqing by 9,000 taxi drivers earlier this month over rental fees and fuel shortages.

It also prompted several hundred drivers in other parts of the country to take similar action over unlicensed competition and high fees.

In Shantou, about 100 drivers marched on the streets on Friday, but the demonstration was peaceful because a police convoy followed the protesters, the man at the Shantou Taxi Management Center said.

He said a small group had gathered outside Shantou's municipal government building on Saturday, but that things were generally calm.

Licensed taxis, which had been hard to find two days before, were slowly coming back to the streets, he said. Some drivers had stopped driving for fear that their cars would be targeted for not participating in the strike, he said.

According to him, Shantou has between 1,000 to 2,000 legitimate taxis and hundreds of unlicensed operators.

The unrest highlights the increasing anxiety felt by many workers over their incomes and job security as the Chinese economy slows. News about the global financial crisis and plunging markets is also adding to concerns.