CHANGSHA, April 11 (Xinhua) -- Eleven persons were detained because of rioting amid a strike involving thousand taxi drivers in Yueyang City in central China's Hunan Province, police said on Saturday.

    The strike began on Friday when dozens of drivers parked their taxies in front of the Yueyang municipal government's building, demanding to reduce the amount of money they should pay to their taxi companies monthly, police said.

    More drivers joined the strike on Saturday, police said.

    Some people rioted during the strike as they stopped some taxis and forced the drivers to join the strike, police said.

    The rioters smashed some cabs and hit the drivers, police said.

    Police detained eight rioters on Friday and three on Saturday.

    Yueyang City has about 11 taxi companies running 1,600 cabs and3,000 taxi drivers. According to the agreement between companies and drivers, each driver should pay the company 6,400 to 7,100 yuan (about 941 to 1,044 U.S. dollars) monthly.

    A special investigation team had been founded by the municipal government to solve the problem, said Han Jianguo, vice mayor of Yueyang.

    Han said the government would try to answer the drivers' request and keep the social order.