Thursday 24 November 2022 09:41 AM Beijing orders six million people into lockdown in iPhone factory city after ... trends now
China has ordered six million people into lockdown after hundreds of workers took to the streets around the vast iPhone factory in Zhengzhou on Wednesday.
Beijing's move to crush the dissent came after images of the protests went viral, and as the number of coronavirus cases in China hit an all-time high - nearly three years into the pandemic and the Chinese Communist Party's zero-Covid approach.
In a rare display of public anger, workers - furious over Covid isolation policies and working conditions - violently clashed with hazmat-clad personnel wielding batons.
In footage overnight from the city, the officials could be seen holding riot shields while being bombarded with heavy objects thrown by workers.
Protesters wielded huge metal poles and railings, swinging them wildly at the ghost-like figures that have become synonymous with President Xi Jinping's failing authoritarian efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19.
In the wake of the unrest, residents of eight districts of Zhengzhou, home to 6.6 million people, were told to stay home for five days beginning Thursday 'unless necessary' - to buy food or get medical treatment.
Daily mass testing was ordered in what the city government called a 'war of annihilation' against the virus. The restrictions do not cover the iPhone factory, where workers have already been under Covid restrictions for weeks.
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In footage overnight from the city (pictured), Hazmat-wearing officials could be seen holding riot shields while being bombarded with heavy objects. Protesters wielding metal poles and railings - angry over working conditions - swung them wildly at the officials
Pictured: Angry workers use large metal poles to fend off the hazmat-wearing officials
Pictured: Hazmat-wearing officials use riot shields to protect themselves from objects thrown by angry workers, furious over their working conditions
The curbs in Zhengzhou are part of China's national zero-tolerance approach to Covid, which involves gruelling lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing.
However, nearly three years into the pandemic, Covid cases are now higher than they have ever been in China.
There were 31,444 domestic cases on Wednesday, the National Health Bureau reported, the highest since the pandemic began.
The numbers are relatively small when compared with China's vast population of 1.4 billion or global caseloads at the height of the pandemic.
But under the zero-Covid policy, even small outbreaks can shut down entire cities and place contacts of infected patients into strict quarantine.
The unrelenting zero-Covid push has caused fatigue and resentment among swathes of the population, sparking sporadic protests and hitting productivity in the world's second-largest economy.
The Foxconn protests have been among the highest-profile bouts of unrest.
In a rare display of public anger, workers - angry over Covid isolation policies and working conditions - clashed with hazmat-clad personnel wielding batons. Pictured left: A man with a large pole fends off hazmat-clad officials. Right: A large crowd faces down the officials
Pictured: A hazmat-clad official beats a man with a stick during a clash with iPhone factory workers who took to the streets of Zhengzhou to protest against working conditions
Pictured: Workers line up to get tested for COVID-19 at the Foxconn factory in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province. Workers at the Zhengzhou iPhone plant been under Covid restrictions for weeks, and have taken to the streets over their working conditions
In other footage from the demonstrations, officials could be seen viciously beating one man with sticks, while police officers desperately attempted to convince workers to return to their accommodation.
In another clip, workers chanted: 'Give us our pay!' while they were surrounded by the officials. A night-time video showed a man with a bloodied face as someone off-camera says: 'They're hitting people, hitting people. Do they have a conscience?'
Tear gas was also deployed in the violent clashes, with workers taking down quarantine barriers.
The furious employees have been left enraged by their living and working conditions at the factory which has been placed under a 'closed loop' system which was implemented by the Apple Inc supplier in late October.
It means that staff live and work on site isolated from the outside world.
After the protests, one new worker told the BBC that he had seen 'one man with blood over his head lying on the ground.'
He added: 'I didn't know the exact reason why people are protesting but they are mixing us new workers with old workers who were [Covid] positive.'
Pictured: Hazmat-wearing officials clash with workers at the protests in Zhengzhou
Pictured: A protester is marched away by hazmat-wearing officials in the Zhengzhou clashes
Another worker told AFP the protests had begun over a dispute over promised bonuses at the locked-down factory, run by Taiwanese tech-giant Foxconn.
