Hundreds of workers at Apple Inc.\u2019s main iPhone-making plant in China clashed with security personnel, as tensions boiled over after almost a month under tough restrictions intended to quash a Covid outbreak.<\/p>\n
Workers at the Foxconn Technology Group plant streamed out of dormitories in the early hours of Wednesday, jostling and pushing past the white-clad guards they vastly outnumbered, according to videos sent by a witness to portions of the protest.<\/p>\n
Several white-suited people pummeled a person lying on the ground with sticks in another clip.<\/p>\n
Onlookers yelled \u201cfight, fight!\u201d as throngs of people forced their way past barricades. At one point, several surrounded an occupied police car and began rocking the vehicle while screaming incoherently.<\/p>\n
The protest started overnight over unpaid wages and fears of spreading infection, according to the witness, asking to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions.<\/p>\n
Several workers were injured and anti-riot police arrived on the scene Wednesday to restore order, the person added.<\/p>\n
In one video, irate workers surrounded a silent, downcast manager in a conference room to voice grievances and question their Covid test results. It wasn\u2019t clear when the meeting took place.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m really scared about this place, we all could be Covid positive now,\u201d a male worker said. \u201cYou are sending us to death,\u201d another person said.<\/p>\n
A Foxconn representative declined to comment on the incident.<\/p>\n
Many eventually\u00a0fled<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0the plant on foot last month. Foxconn and the local government appeared to have gotten the situation under control in recent weeks, promising unusually high wages to attract new staff and promising better working conditions.<\/p>\n Wednesday morning\u2019s protests suggest that is no longer the case.<\/p>\n It underscores how Xi Jinping\u2019s Covid Zero policy, which relies on swift lockdowns to stamp out the disease wherever it pops up, is increasingly weighing on the economy and throwing swathes of the global supply chain into disarray.<\/p>\n Beijing recently issued new directives ordering officials to minimize disruption and use more targeted Covid controls, but surging outbreaks in major cities have forced local authorities to reach for strict curbs again.<\/p>\n Violence has erupted sporadically across China over Covid restrictions.<\/p>\n In May, hundreds of workers\u00a0clashed<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0with security personnel at Quanta Computer Inc.\u2019s factory in Shanghai after they were barred for months from contact with the outside world, while protests have\u00a0emerged<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0in locked-down areas of Guangdong, the southern manufacturing hub.<\/p>\n The Foxconn situation serves up another reminder of the dangers for Apple of relying on a vast production machine centered on China at a time of unpredictable policy and uncertain trade relations.<\/p>\n Zhengzhou is the site of Apple\u2019s most critical production, churning out an estimated four in five of its latest-generation handsets and the vast majority of the highest-end iPhone 14 Pro units.<\/p>\n Apple\u00a0warned<\/a><\/strong> this month that shipments of its newest premium iPhones will be lower than previously expected \u2014 just ahead of the peak holiday season shopping.<\/p>\n The sprawling compound has operated for weeks within a \u201cclosed loop,\u201d or a self-contained bubble that limits contact with the outside world.<\/p>\n That is keeping some production going. Apple and Foxconn have said they\u2019re working to replace staff who\u2019ve left and resume full production as soon as possible.<\/p>\n Hundreds of workers at Apple’s main iPhone-making plant in China clashed with security personnel, as tensions boiled over after almost a month under tough restrictions intended to quash a Covid-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341034,"featured_media":466749,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40380],"tags":[605,47906,129,51373,1125,8823,52563],"class_list":["post-470361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-apple","tag-beijing","tag-china","tag-foxconn-technology","tag-iphone","tag-protests","tag-smartphone-manufacturing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470361"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341034"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Now read: Strangers\u2019 photos popping up in iCloud for Windows videos \u2014 Report<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"