SHANGHAI - Taxi drivers smashed car windows and police vehicles as they went on strike in one of China's biggest cities Monday, state press said, in a rare bout of industrial action for the communist-run country.

Thousands of taxi drivers in southwest China's Chongqing city were striking over high operating costs, shortages of natural gas and high traffic fines, the People's Daily said on its website.

They were also unhappy over the government's lack of efforts at reining in unlicensed taxi operators who were  stealing fares away, the report said.

At least 20 vehicles, including three police cars, were smashed, Xinhua said.

"A lot of taxi drivers do not want to join the strike, but they are worried their cars will be smashed up so they don't dare go to work," Xinhua quoted a driver named Huang as saying.

A dispatch operator at the Chongqing Taxi Company contacted by AFP confirmed taxi drivers were on strike, but said her company was trying to operate as usual. She declined to be named, saying she was not allowed to speak
to media.

Thousands were left stranded during the morning rush hour when taxi cabs were absent from the city's crowded streets and people could not find transport to work or to the airport and train station, according to the Chinese media.

The Chongqing city government held an emergency meeting Monday morning to address strikers' demands, according to the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party.

Chongqing has 16,000 licensed cabs, Xinhua said, with about 9,000 of them operating in the city's urban areas.

Chongqing, one of China's four provincial-level municipalities, has a population of about 31 million people, with just over five million living in the urban district.

Strikes are rare in China, where union activity is strictly controlled by the Communist Party.

Employees in any industry are only allowed to belong to the party-controlled All China Federation of Trade Unions.