Uber drivers and their clients were targeted by disgruntled taxi drivers Monday in in Cancun and Mexico’s surrounding resort-studded Caribbean coast, prompting the US State Department to issue a travel advisory for the region.

Medallion taxi drivers started harassing and attacking drivers from the ride-hailing app – going so as to block one of the main roads leading to the hotel district in Cancun and forcing some tourists to walk or catch rides in police pickups to get their flights out, or check in.

The State Department advised travellers that “past disputes between these services and local taxi unions have occasionally turned violent, resulting in injuries to US citizens in some instances.”

As of Tuesday, Canada had not issued any specific advice regarding Cancun, though an ongoing message for visitors to Mexico to exercise a high degree of caution continued (with regional advisories).

The Cancun police department shared photos of travellers getting into the bed of police trucks and said “given the blockades on the Kukulcan boulevard, our transit officers helped people get to the airport.”

Cancun Mayor called on the taxi drivers — who were angered by the competition from Uber drivers — to show restraint.

“I am not going to allow a small group to damage the reputation of the resort and human safety,” Mayor Ana Patricia Peralta said in a taped message.

Social media sites have been full over the last two days of videos showing tourists being berated – and in one case, apparently manhandled – by groups of several uniformed taxi drivers.

“It is illegal, illegal,” a taxi driver can be heard shouting at one family of tourists.

In fact, ride-hailing apps had been blocked in Cancun until earlier this month, when a court granted an injunction allowing Uber to operate.

Given the high cost of local medallion taxis in Cancun, many travellers prefer to use apps.

Some Cancun residents also posted videos or photos of taxis encircling suspected ride-hailing cars, and one man said he was just giving a ride to some people when his car was pelted with stones and dented by taxi drivers.