Stefan Mileschin

iPhone assembler Foxconn has resumed production at its plant after it had to close following a riot involving 2,000 workers had forced it to close for 24 hours.

According to Reuters, the factory employs some 79,000 workers in northern Taiyuan city erupted into violence on Sunday. The plant's owner, Foxconn described as "a personal dispute" that got out of hand.

Rumour is that the plant's much feared security guards, who have been known for their heavy handed attitude towards journalists, started to thump a particular worker they did not like much. When the workers decided that in numbers they might be able to remind security guards that their job was to protect workers rather than beat them up, that the riot started.

Workers on Tuesday morning walked back through the gates of the factory, which was still ringed by police. More than 40 people were injured, according to Foxconn and Chinese local media.

As the workers trooped past gates that were bent over, and windows were smashed. A loudspeaker on a loop recording shouted at them to "maintain order". It was something out of Kafka.

Foxconn, which assembles Apple's iPhones, has faced accusations of poor conditions and mistreatment of workers at its plants before.

But Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo said that Apple fanboys would not be affected by the riot as the one-day closure would not disrupt supplies from the factory.

Woo said the plant had spare inventory, and no rich American would do without an iPhone because of the riot. We guess they will clean the blood off and no westerner will be any the wiser, or care.

http://news.techeye.net/hardware/fox...ork-after-riot