After surveillance cameras and windows were shattered, online footage shows personnel in hazmat suits beating demonstrators.
In the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou, people have been beaten and imprisoned in response to demonstrations by employees of a massive iPhone manufacturer.
The online video depicts hundreds of workers participating in protests, with some damaging surveillance cameras and windows.
On the video, police wearing masks and other officials wearing white biohazard suits can be seen swinging batons and sticks at demonstrators.
On social media, employees have complained about wages, stating that new employees were enticed to work at the massive factory – where 70% of iPhones are manufactured – in exchange for bonuses.
On Tuesday, a protest erupted following reports that the operator, Foxconn, altered the terms.
As a result of coronavirus outbreaks at the complex, thousands of workers at the site walked off the job last month, citing dangerous working conditions.
Millions of Chinese citizens have been confined to their homes for weeks with little to no warning due to China’s ultra-strict COVID-19 restrictions.
As the number and intensity of outbreaks have increased across China, especially in Beijing, protests have erupted. Recently, authorities confirmed the first COVID-19 deaths in the country in six months.
In October, in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases in Zhengzhou, Foxconn placed the plant’s 200,000 employees under closed-loop management – a system in which employees live and work on-site while being separated from the outside world.
This forced some migrant workers to abandon the plant and return to their native countries.
Earlier this month, in response to COVID manpower shortages, the Chinese government offered bonuses to retired military and government personnel in exchange for their assistance in boosting productivity at the factory.
Moreover, Apple earlier warned that consumers would have to wait longer for the newest iPhone 14 models because Chinese authorities were enforcing stricter COVID-19 limitations.
Foxconn stated that the plant was “working at a drastically reduced capacity” and expected a decline in smartphone sales in the fourth quarter.
The news agency Reuters predicted that production at the plant might decrease by as much as 30 percent in November.
