Foxconn iPhone factory: violent protests and unrest, situation comes to a head

The situation in the so-called “iPhone City” in Zhengzhou, China, continues to deteriorate. Already at the beginning of November we reported on another COVID outbreak in the iPhone factory, due to which Foxconn even locked up employees. Now violent protests and unrest are added to the mix.

iPhone factory: violent protests, lockdowns and mass layoffs

There is no peace at Foxconn’s iPhone factory in Zhengzhou, China. After thousands of employees were locked down in October due to another COVID outbreak, mass terminations occurred a few days ago, with some 20,000 workers reportedly quitting their jobs.

However, the strict COVID regulations and treatment of staff are creating a heated atmosphere within the workforce. As Bloomberg reports, protests and unrest, some even violent, have been mounting for days among workers who have taken to the barricades against the adverse working conditions.

Video show the protests and how hundreds of workers break out of the dormitories of the iPhone factory. For days, employees have been engaged in street battles with police after Foxconn allegedly failed to pay bonuses already promised – which were supposed to encourage employees to stay – and apparently also falsified COVID tests.

The fact that the production of iPhone models could suffer as a result is certain – but certainly no one is interested in this context anymore.

Stephen McDonell, China correspondent for the British news channel BBC, shows in a video on Twitter what brutal means the police use against the demonstrators and even beat up workers who are already lying on the ground. The situation at Foxconn’s iPhone factory is getting increasingly out of control, and there seems to be no end in sight to the protests.