Men wielding sticks smashed surveillance cameras and windows at a massive campus owned by Apple supplier Foxconn in the Chinese city of Zhengzhou, scenes broadcast live on the Kuaishou short video platform showed on Wednesday, Report informs via Reuters.
Hundreds of workers protested at the campus, home to the world's largest iPhone factory, where many chanted "give us our pay". They were surrounded by people in full hazmat suits, some carrying batons.
The images come after weeks of turmoil which have seen scores of employees flee the factory over COVID-19 controls.
Many former workers have spoken of food shortages and rigid quarantine rules, and Foxconn has had to offer incentives including bonuses to retain or lure workers.
Multiple people said on the livestream feeds they were protesting after being informed this week that they would receive their bonuses later than initially promised.
"Foxconn never treats humans as humans," said one person in social media footage of the scenes.
Two sources with knowledge of the matter said there were protests at the Zhengzhou campus but declined to provide more details.
Foxconn and Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, is Apple's biggest iPhone maker, accounting for 70% of iPhone shipments globally. It makes most of the phones at the Zhengzhou plant where it employs about 200,000 people, though it has other smaller production sites in India and southern China.