Status: 11/23/2022 10:33 a.m
Workers at the world’s largest iPhone factory in China are said to have been beaten and arrested during protests. The unrest was apparently triggered by the strict corona measures taken by the Chinese government.
According to reports on social media, protests and riots have broken out again around the world’s largest iPhone factory due to the strict corona virus measures in China. As can be seen in videos on Chinese platforms, hundreds of workers from Apple supplier Foxconn marched down a street in the eastern Chinese metropolis of Zhengzhou. A large contingent of security forces with batons and plastic shields tried to push people back.
Apparently there were clashes. Some workers were believed to be injured. The Taiwanese company Foxconn could not immediately be reached for comment.
Foxconn factory operating in ‘pandemic mode’
A few weeks ago, unrest broke out around the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, where around 200,000 people work. Thousands of employees had fled for fear of corona infection or the strict pandemic measures.
Foxconn then offered employees higher wages if they decided to return despite the restrictions. The plant continued to run in a so-called “closed circuit”: Employees were not allowed to leave the factory premises.
No end to the zero-Covid policy in sight
There were also protests against the government’s corona measures in the southern Chinese metropolis of Guangzhou last week. Angry migrant workers tore down numerous barricades there.
As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, China continues to implement a strict zero-Covid strategy of lockdowns, mass daily testing, strict controls, contact tracing and forced quarantine. Nevertheless, the number of new infections has risen sharply again in recent weeks. Authorities reported 28,883 new local cases today, up from 27,899 the previous day and close to daily highs in April.