For several days, images have been leaked of how workers allegedly fled the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, in protest at how the covid disease was handled.
Chinese authorities have now set up roadblocks around the industrial complex, reportedly stopping people trying to leave. The closure must last at least one week.
– It is probably a sign that there is a strong bubbling dissatisfaction, even if the authorities try to suppress it. The question is how long this policy can be continued, before the dissatisfaction becomes too strong, says Björn Cappelin, China expert at the Institute for Foreign Policy.
Foxconn is one of the world’s largest IT producers, and is, among other things, a subcontractor to Apple. At the facility in Zhengzhou, around 60 percent of all iPhones are manufactured, and the company has around 200,000 employees there.
On social media, several employees testify that panic prevailed in the dormitories where workers are housed, while the incident once again puts the focus on China’s zero-tolerance policy against covid.
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