Courtney Love berates Hollande over 'unsafe taxi ride' in Paris

Courtney Love has criticised the French president, François Hollande, claiming she would have been safer in Baghdad after her taxi became caught up in a protest in Paris against the Uber taxi app.

The singer, 50, claimed in a series of tweets that the car was smashed and her driver had been “taken hostage” on a journey from Charles de Gaulle airport and then through the French capital.

French taxi drivers have been protesting against Uber – the app that lets consumers book a ride, connecting them to unlicensed drivers – because, they say, the facility undercuts them.

On Thursday the protests turned violent as drivers burned cars and blocked access to airports and train stations. Riot police were called in, and there were reports of teargas use and baton charges.

Love directed a tweet at Hollande, asking him where the police were, after picketers appeared to attack her car. She claimed she was chased by taxi drivers, throwing rocks and blocking motorways leading to Paris airports, while police watched and “did nothing”.

Love posted a photo appearing to show the window of her taxi covered in egg yolk, tweeting Kanye West to say she might turn back to the airport and “hide out” with him instead.

Later she posted a video on Instagram captioned: “How on earth are these people allowed to do this? the first car was destroyed, all tires slashed and beat with bats, these guys trying to open the doors and the cops are doing nothing??

“French Taliban? civil reform needed in France?? I want to go home,” Love added.

Love, the widow of Nirvana’s singer Kurt Cobain, later posted that she had “escaped”, adding that “I’m scared out of my wits” and “love French people but your government blows”.

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Long traffic jams built up during the morning rush hour in Paris, and journeys were also disrupted in Cannes, where the Cannes Lions advertising festival was taking place.