Report: Dozens Arrested
After Riot at Foxconn (Apple) Factory in China
By Angela Moscaritolo June
6, 2012 10:24am EST
Dozens of workers at a
Foxconn plant in Chengdu, China were arrested this week after a clash with
security staff, according to a report.
Taiwan-based Want China
Times (WCT) reported that the clash broke out Monday night at a male dormitory
for Foxconn workers. Security guards had attempted to stop a thief, when
several employees with grudges against the officers forced them away.
The situation rapidly
escalated, and up to 1,000 workers eventually joined in, WCT reported. Workers
threw trash bins, chairs, pots, bottles, and even fireworks from the upper
floors of the building, destroying public facilitates.
The riot ended after two
hours, after dorm administrators reported the case to local police and hundreds
of officers arrived at the scene to suppress the violence. Dozens were
arrested.
Foxconn, the world's
largest electronic contract manufacturer, employs up to 120,000 people at its
plant in Chengdu, located in southwestern China. The factory mainly produces
liquid crystal displays for electronic products such as Apple's iPhone.
Foxconn has repeatedly
come under fire for harsh working conditions. Late last month, a watchdog group
released a study that criticized Foxconn for limited freedoms, inhumane
treatment, and unsafe working conditions, among other things. An earlier
Apple-commissioned report from the Fair Labor Association found abuses at
Foxconn facilities, but said that the firm had agreed to make changes.
ABC's Nightline also
gained access to a Foxconn factory recently, and did not uncover any
particularly shocking conditions, while This American Life was forced to
retract a controversial episode about Apple factories in China that featured
storyteller Mike Daisey. An explosion at the Chengdu factory last year killed
two workers and injured 16 others.
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