A riot at a Chinese factory which is believed to make parts for the Apple’s new iPhone 5 has forced it to halt production and left 40 workers in hospital.
About 2,000 employees were involved in the mass brawl at Foxconn Technology Group’s plant at Taiyuan in the north of the country. The fighting at a dormitory for workers lasted for four hours and was eventually brought under control at about 3am by 5,000 police.
Internet users in China posted pictures which they said had been taken at the scene showing windows of nearby shops smashed and police vehicles overturned.
The trigger for the violence was not immediately clear but one local report said it started when security guards attacked a worker. State media reported that it “was triggered by a conflict” between a group of workers and a restaurant owner.
Louis Woo, spokesman for Taipei based Foxconn said the factory had been closed temporarily because “we want to give people time to cool down”. He would not reveal which components are made at the factory but an undercover newspaper report this year claimed that the Taiyuan plant processed the back casing of the iPhone 5.
The company has faced scrutiny over complaints in the past about wages and working hours. It raised minimum pay and promised in March to limit hours after an auditor hired by Apple found Foxconn employees were regularly required to work more than 60 hours a week.
However, analysts said any impact on production of the new Apple smartphone would be “minor” and would be made up through overtime.
