Footage and images have appeared online depicting violence between police and protestors in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
These protests come as a result of staff working at Foxconn, Apple’s largest hardware manufacturer producing an estimate of 70% of iPhones, making claims in regards to unsafe working conditions, overdue pay and complaints over Covid restrictions within the facility, leading to thousands of of employees walking out.
Eye witness reports from those involved have described brutal beatings inflicted by police.
In previous months, China’s continuous imposing of Covid lockdown restrictions forced the factory to a standstill and as a result many workers forced their way out and returned home.
In response, Foxconn announced they would award bonuses and better pay rates for employees in order to attract replacement workers to fill in the recently open positions.
However workers have gone on record saying that these contracts were changed by force and according to one worker they: “could not get the subsidy promised.”
Foxconn has since released a statement detailing a “technical error” which led to the issue of pay distribution amongst the new recruits and are claiming that they are working hard to “actively solve the concerns and reasonable demands of the employees.” They have also stated that the plant was: “operating at significantly reduced capacity.”
Reportedly Foxconn have also been noted to have paid off some workers in order to quell the protests that have caused the outbreak of violence, apparently offering approximately 10,000 yuan (£1,150) to a number of staff.