According to footage widely circulated online, protests have erupted at the world’s largest iPhone factory in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou.

Videos show hundreds of workers marching, some of whom are confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police, which the BBC was unable to verify.

Following an increase in Covid cases last month, the company locked down the campus, prompting some employees to flee.

The company then hired new employees with the promise of large bonuses.

Workers were heard shouting on a livestreaming site: “Protect our rights! Protect our rights!” Other workers were seen using sticks to smash surveillance cameras and windows.

Several clips also showed workers complaining about the food they were given and not receiving the promised bonuses.

According to one Foxconn employee who recently started working at the Zhengzhou plant, workers are protesting because Foxconn “changed the contract they promised.”

He also stated that some newly hired employees were concerned about catching Covid from staff who had been there during the previous outbreak.

“Those workers who are protesting are wanting to get a subsidy and return home,” the staff member said.

On Wednesday morning, he said, there was a large police presence at the plant.

Foxconn has yet to respond. It is Apple’s primary subcontractor, and its Zhengzhou plant produces more iPhones than any other location on the planet.

Many workers fled the plant in late October amid rising Covid cases and allegations of poor employee treatment, their escape captured on social media as they rode lorries back to their hometowns elsewhere in the central Chinese province.

Foxconn then attempted to persuade employees to stay and recruit new employees by offering higher salaries and bonuses.

The company has since implemented so-called closed loop operations at the plant, isolating it from the larger city of Zhengzhou due to a Covid outbreak there.

Apple announced earlier this month that it expected lower shipments of iPhone 14 models due to the disruption in production in Zhengzhou.

(Adapted from BBC.com)

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