Protesters Clash with Police at Covid Test Kit Factory in China, Toss Crates at Cops in Riot Gear | Watch

Protesters clashed with police in central China during a demonstration on Saturday by hundreds of people at a Covid test kit factory in China, several videos posted on social media showed.

According to the local reports, the protest was over wages and the layoff of several workers by the manufacturer, Zybio, in the central municipality of Chongqing.

Footage geolocated by AFP to an industrial park in the southwestern city of Chongqing shows people tossing crates at a group of uniformed men, sending a shower of what appear to be test kits flying.

One video showed people throwing traffic cones, boxes and stools at police carrying riot shields. Another video, posted on social media platforms such as Twitter and Douyin, showed dozens of protesters chanting ”return our money”.

In other videos, loudspeakers play a warning demanding they “cease illegal activities” while people are gathered in front of the police.

A person who answered a phone call at Zybio’s headquarters declined to comment on Sunday. Emails to the company were not immediately answered.

“All the workers’ demands are economic in nature,” said a man in one video who called himself a “Marxist-Leninist-Maoist”. He insisted there was no political motive behind the protest.

The hashtag “Chongqing Dadukou Pharmaceutical Factory” appeared to be censored on the popular Weibo social media platform Sunday, with only one post from the previous day still visible describing the protest as an “interesting topic”.

Protests are not rare in China, which has over the years seen people demonstrate over issues such as financial scams or labour disputes.

But authorities have been on higher alert after a series of protests late last year, including worker unrest at Apple supplier Foxconn’s massive iPhone factory in central China, as well as widespread protests in Chinese cities and top universities against COVID restrictions.

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