A Foxconn plant was forced to shut down after approximately 2,000 Chinese employees of the Taiwanese electronics company fought in an altercation on September 24th.
About 5,000 police officers were sent from authorities in the northern city of Taiyuan after the plant’s owners of Foxconn Technology Group reported was a personal quarrel in a dormitory that escalated into a large battle. However, messages have been posted online by employees, accusing the factory guards of provoking the violence by attacking the factory workers.
Authorities reported that a number of people had been arrested and about 40 people had been taken to the hospital. In addition, the state run Xinhua news agency reported at least three people were in serious condition.
This conflict has been the latest in a string of incidents at factories owned by the Taiwanese company, who have faced many accusations of poor working conditions and mistreatment of workers at its plants in China, where approximately 1 million workers are employed.
Foxconn, however, insists that it has been heavily spending money in the recent months to improve working conditions and worker wages. In a public statement, the company says that the incident erupted from a personal dispute between several employees late Sunday evening and was resolved by the police early Monday morning. Foxconn also stated that the incident does not appear to be work-related.
A similar incident occurred in June, when about 100 workers went on a rampage at a Foxconn plant located in Chengdu, in southwestern China.
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