Videos shared on social media revealed an altercation between workers and police at a Covid test kit factory in China.
After an unexpected announcement of layoffs and wage conflicts in the southwest city of Chongqing, the protest got underway on Saturday.
A few videos were shot at Zybio, a business that specializes in tools and reagents for
vitro diagnostic testing.
The criteria for negative test results have been relaxed nationwide as a result of China’s decision to terminate its zero-Covid policy.
Hundreds of employees could be seen assembling outside the factory in one video,
some of whom were chanting, “Give us our money back!”
Antigen test kit boxes were visible and scattered across the ground.
Some films appear to show demonstrators throwing chairs, crates, and traffic cones at riot police who had been deployed to the area later that evening, causing the officers to flee.
The captioning for the videos stated, “This is the road of claiming unpaid salary,” and that you must pay the money back if you owe others.
Online reports claimed that the demonstration began on Saturday morning when
workers were informed they would effectively be laid off and that their salaries would not match those promised by their brokers.
Political protests are uncommon in China, while labor disputes and protests directed at particular businesses are more common.
In November, large-scale protests over China’s rigorous zero-Covid policy finally broke out, and shortly thereafter, the government declared that most restrictions would be lifted.
