Foxconn riot forces factory closure

Foxconn Technology, a Taiwan-owned company that makes many of the world's electronic products, including the Apple iPhone, halted production at a factory in Taiyuan, central China, on Monday after a riot involving around 2,000 employees at a dormitory injured 40 people. 

According to news reports, the riot drew 5,000 police officers to the site, and led to the closing of the facility that is reportedly responsible for the metal back plate of the Apple iPhone 5, as well as hardware for Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard products. 

• Lust, Caution: China's love-hate relationship with iPhone 5

Foxconn released a statement that the riot began as a disagreement between factory workers in a dormitory and was eventually brought under control by police.

But according to posts on Sina Weibo, China's version of twitter, the riot was sparked after security guards beat one or more workers nearly to death.

The unrest that followed led to broken windows and a toppled guard post building at the factory. 

Foxconn has been plagued with numerous reports of worker mistreatment over the past year, including employee suicides and the alleged use of student interns from Jiangsu province to produce the new iPhone.