Downloads of the smartphone taxi app Uber were up 850 per cent in Dublin this week following Europe-wide protests against the company that brought many cities to a standstill.

The company was valued at $17 billion last week, but was this week the subject of mass protests, with thousands of taxi drivers taking to the streets of London, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and other European cities over an alleged lack of regulation in relation to the app.

A spokeswoman for the company yesterday said Uber had witnessed an “uplift” of 850 per cent in its app downloads in Dublin, and a similar figure was recorded in Uber’s markets across Europe.

The protests raised the firm’s profile substantially in the media.