Foxconn has confirmed that iPhone production will be resuming today following the riots at one of the firm’s divisions recently.
“The cause of this dispute is under investigation by local authorities and we are working closely with them in this process, but it appears not to have been work-related,” the firm said in a statement.
The riot itself involved 2,000 people that sent 40 to the hospital, with 5000 police officers having to intervene. In a statement, the manufacturer denied anyone died or that the riot was work-related.
iDB reports:
Although there is no obvious cause for the violent protest, reports suggest the melee may have grown after factory guards attempted to intervene. An undisclosed number of persons were arrested and equipment was damaged, but the extent is unknown.
What is known is the Foxconn facility has become a lightening rod for worker complaints and investigations into the firm’s notorious working conditions. In early September, a Chinese reporter said he’d gone undercover inside a Foxconn plant making the uni-body backplates for the new iPhone 5. In another report earlier this month, the Shanghai Daily and China National Radio charged Foxconn was yanking college students out of class and putting them to work on factory lines to meet Apple’s demand for the iPhone 5.