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These Photos of Shirtless Thugs With Clubs And Machetes At Apple's Chinese iPhone Factory Are Terrifying

Jillian D'Onfro   

These Photos of Shirtless Thugs With Clubs And Machetes At Apple's Chinese iPhone Factory Are Terrifying
Tech2 min read

A fight involving more than 200 workers broke out on Sept. 19 at one of the Chinese campuses of Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturer that has been accused of providing poor labor conditions for its workers. (Apple denies the claims and has a meticulous monitoring process in place to prevent abuse, the company says.)

The photos, which show an armed mob clashing in the open, are terrifying. But they have nothing to do with working conditions at Foxconn, or Apple and its iPhones, apparently.

The dispute reportedly broke out between workers of two different provinces after they gathered to drink and celebrate China's Mid-Autumn Festival, according to The Wall Street Journal.

About 200 workers from Guizhou province began chanting "beat all that are from Shandong," the IBT reports. Another report suggests it began over a personal dispute in a cafeteria. Photos of the fight circulating on Chinese social media show participants shirtless, and wielding steel bars, batons, and machetes as they clash with each other and the police.

The violence was quelled by police, but a second, related fight erupted several days later on Sept. 21. Foxconn reported only 11 injuries total, although other estimates suggest that at least 27 people were wounded.

This large fight is just the latest drama to surface since the controversial company came into the public view in 2009 after a series of factory suicides, including last summer's 2,000-person riots sparked in Taiyuan after a factory guard reportedly hit a worker.

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