Largest iPhone factory in the world: riots bloodily crushed

Created: 11/23/2022, 10:27 am

Social media images show riots at the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, China.

© whyyoutouzhele/Twitter (montage)

China's drastic corona measures repeatedly lead to clashes with security forces.

Massive riots broke out in a factory owned by iPhone supplier Foxconn.

Munich/Zhengzhou – Protests and riots apparently broke out around the world's largest iPhone factory on Wednesday.

Photos and videos showing clashes between hundreds of Apple supplier Foxconn employees and security forces circulated on social media such as Twitter.

According to the information, the recordings were made in the eastern Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

You can see, among other things, water cannons and smoke bombs as well as security forces with batons, as well as several people who are injured on the ground.

Even in heavily censored Chinese social networks such as Weibo, the recordings could still be found sporadically on Wednesday.

The trigger for the protests were apparently the strict corona measures in China.

The country continues to adhere to its “zero Covid” policy, responding to coronavirus outbreaks with lockdowns and forced quarantines.

Recently, the corona measures have been relaxed somewhat, but at the same time the number of cases is increasing significantly, so that the authorities have to intervene drastically again and again.

Corona lockdowns in China: iPhone factory with "significantly reduced capacity utilization"

A few weeks ago, there was unrest around the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, where around 200,000 people work.

Thousands of employees had fled for fear of infection or the strict measures.

Foxconn then offered employees higher wages if they chose to return despite the restrictions.

But the plant continued to operate in a so-called “closed cycle”.

Employees were not allowed to leave the factory premises.

The corona measures in China have long since had an impact on the global economy and global supply chains.

At the beginning of November, the iPhone manufacturer Apple announced that it would have to limit production of the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max models.

The reason for this is that the Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou is working with "significantly reduced capacity utilization", according to the US company.

According to a report by the Reuters news agency, up to 30 percent fewer iPhones than planned were already being produced in the plant in October.

There is currently no end in sight to China's "zero Covid" policy.

Chinese experts repeatedly point to the relatively low vaccination rate among older people and the country's health system, which is not up to the uncontrolled spread of the virus.

The Chinese authorities recently reported three new deaths related to the corona virus – they were the first corona deaths in six months.

Nationwide, the number of daily new infections in China topped 28,000 on Tuesday.

The capital Beijing and the southern Chinese metropolis Guangzhou are particularly affected.