China's 'iPhone City' Under COVID Lockdown After Violent Clashes - Voice of America - VOA News

Six cardinal radical were nether COVID lockdown connected Friday successful a Chinese metropolis location to the world's largest iPhone factory, aft clashes betwixt constabulary and workers furious implicit pay.

Authorities person ordered residents of 8 districts successful Zhengzhou, successful the cardinal state of Henan, not to permission the country for the adjacent 5 days, mounting up barriers astir "high-risk" flat buildings and checkpoints to restrict travel.

There person been lone a fistful of coronavirus cases successful the metropolis but nether China's zero-COVID argumentation adjacent tiny outbreaks tin spark grueling lockdowns, question restrictions and wide testing.

The lockdown successful Zhengzhou follows protests by hundreds of employees implicit conditions and wage astatine Foxconn's immense iPhone mill connected the outskirts of the city, with images of caller rallies emerging Friday.

Footage published connected societal media and geolocated by AFP showed a ample radical of radical walking down a thoroughfare successful the eastbound of the city, immoderate holding signs.

"So galore people," a antheral tin beryllium heard saying. AFP was incapable to verify precisely erstwhile the protests took place.

Workers antecedently told AFP the demonstrations had begun implicit a quality implicit promised bonuses astatine the factory.

Scores of workers near the works Thursday with payouts of $1,400 from Foxconn.

On Friday posts connected Chinese short-video apps said the Taiwanese tech elephantine was turning distant galore of thousands of radical who had answered hiring ads from the steadfast aft a raft of departures past month.

Some who arrived to instrumentality up recently vacant posts had been sent to quarantine hotels extracurricular the works contempt successful the extremity being refused a job, aggregate workers told AFP.

"We are successful a quarantine edifice and person nary mode of going to the Foxconn campus," 1 idiosyncratic who asked to stay anonymous said.

Another worker said those turned distant had been promised $1,400 successful compensation for being forced to quarantine but had received lone a fraction of that amount.

"They are not letting america commencement the occupation and we cannot instrumentality home," 1 idiosyncratic isolated successful adjacent Ruzhou metropolis told AFP.

He added that determination had been aggregate tiny protests successful different Henan cities by Foxconn workers made to quarantine and incapable to commencement work.

Other videos posted online connected Friday and geolocated by AFP showed aggravated workers knocking down furnishings and swearing astatine constabulary successful the lobby of a edifice successful Nanyang city, astir 280 kilometers (174 miles) from Zhengzhou.

The workers appeared to person been quarantined successful the hotel, with a antheral heard saying successful 1 clip: "Everyone who's online, delight stock this."

The unrest successful Zhengzhou comes against the backdrop of mounting nationalist vexation implicit the government's zero-tolerance attack to COVID.

China's regular caseload stood astatine 33,000 connected Friday -- a grounds for the state of 1.4 cardinal though tiny by planetary standards.

The unrelenting zero-COVID propulsion has sparked sporadic protests and deed productivity successful the world's second-largest economy.

In the southeastern manufacturing hub of Guangzhou, millions of radical person been ordered not to permission their homes without a antagonistic microorganism test.

Social media footage published connected Friday and geolocated by AFP showed residents of the city's Haizhu territory dismantling barricades and throwing objects astatine constabulary successful hazmat suits.

"What are you doing? What are you doing?" 1 constabulary serviceman holding a shield tin beryllium heard asking arsenic helium and his colleagues backmost distant from the projectiles.