Apple Supplier Closes China Plant After Riot

A major electronics supplier for Apple has suspended production at a factory in northern China after 40 people were injured in a riot involving 2,000 employees.

Police are investigating the brawl which erupted in a privately-managed dormitory for Foxconn workers at a factory in Taiyuan, in Shanxi province, at 11pm on Sunday.

Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group declined to say whether the plant produced any Apple products but said the facility, which has a 79,000-strong workforce, was closed on Monday and would reopen on Tuesday.

The company added the cause of the fight - which it described as "a personal dispute between several employees" - was being investigated and did not appear to be work-related.

Some 5,000 police officers were deployed to the scene and took around four hours to restore order.

A number of people were arrested and the injured taken to hospital for treatment.

The plant manufactures electronic components for cars and consumer devices.

Foxconn makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc and also assembles products for Microsoft Corp and Hewlett-Packard Co.

It is one of China's biggest employers with some 1.2 million workers in factories in Taiyuan, the southern city of Shenzhen, in Chengdu in the west and in Zhengzhou in central China.

A string of suicides and unrest at its Chinese factories since 2010 has put Foxconn in the spotlight over its working conditions.

The company has since increased wages, reduced hours and installed safety nets outside buildings.