Violent protests erupt at Apple's main iPhone plant in China over COVID regulations

Beijing, Nov 23: Amid COVID cases still emerging in China, several videos of violent protests erupting at the world's biggest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou are going viral on social media platforms. Reportedly, the protest began overnight over unpaid salaries and worries about the spread of infection.

Hundreds of workers are marching towards the iPhone plant marching, with some confronted by police for rioting. Few have livestreamed the protests where they have claimed workers were beaten by police.

Due to rising COVID cases, Foxconn had lock down the site last month. It resulted in some workers to go home. The company then recruited new workers with the promise of generous bonuses.

Footage shared on a live streaming site showed workers shouting: "Defend our rights! Defend our rights!" Other workers were seen smashing surveillance cameras and windows with sticks. Several clips also showed workers complaining about the food they had been given and saying they had not received bonuses as promised.

"They changed the contract so that we could not get the subsidy as they had promised. They quarantine us but don't provide food," said one Foxconn worker during his live stream. "If they do not address our needs, we will keep fighting." He also claimed to have seen a man "severely injured and [who] might die" after a beating from police.

Foxconn, a Taiwanese firm, is Apple's main subcontractor and its Zhengzhou plant assembles more iPhones than anywhere else in the world.

In late October many workers fled the plant amid rising Covid cases and allegations of poor treatment of staff, their escape captured on social media as they rode lorries back to their hometowns elsewhere in the central Chinese province.

 

The firm has since enacted so-called closed loop operations at the plant - keeping it isolated from the wider city of Zhengzhou because of a Covid outbreak there. Earlier this month Apple said it expected lower shipments of iPhone 14 models because of the disruption to production in Zhengzhou.