Police arrested 47 people during a protest staged by taxi drivers against ride-sharing services in Guadalajara, the capital of the western Mexican state of Jalisco, state prosecutors said.

About 2,500 took to the city's streets on Tuesday to protest against Uber, City Drive and other ride-sharing services. Uber responded by giving away free rides to users in Jalisco, a strategy the company previously used when taxi drivers staged protests in Mexico City.

Taxi drivers shut down the main streets in downtown Guadalajara, angering merchants and the public in the Plaza de la Tecnologia area.

A fight broke out between merchants chanting pro-Uber slogans and taxi drivers, who started screaming and shoving the business owners. Merchants responded by throwing stones and other objects at the taxi drivers, media reports said.

Police deployed in the Plaza de la Tecnologia moved in and arrested 47 people.

At least one person was injured in the protests and seven vehicles were damaged, the Jalisco Attorney General's Office said.

Uber said earlier this week it was expanding its operations to six more cities in Mexico on Tuesday, bringing to 14 the number of cities in its network in the country.

Mexico is now the No. 3 country in terms of trips completed using the ride-sharing app, trailing only the United States and China, Uber said.

Merida, Hermosillo, Mexicali, San Luis Potosi, Aguascalientes and Cuernavaca joined Mexico City, Toluca, Leon, Puebla, Queretaro, Tijuana, Monterrey and Guadalajara in the network, Uber Mexico director Francisco Sordo said on Monday.

Uber, whose service can only be accessed using a smartphone app and must be paid for using a credit card, has been pushing out taxis in many large cities. In January, Uber launched UberPOOL in Mexico City, a service that lets people traveling to the same area share the trip at a lower cost than the regular ride-sharing service.