According to a CNET report, the line which the Apple fans are forming outside the company's flagship Manhattan store on 5th Avenue, awaiting the Friday, September 21 launch of the next-generation iPhone - the iPhone 5 - is apparently becoming a platform for protest by the `Occupy' activists.

Going by the report, citing the information shared by two `Occupy' activists, a group of nearly 12 members of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement have joined the iPhone 5 line outside the mentioned Apple store.

The two `Occupy' activists also apparently told CNET that the group had joined the iPhone 5 line with the key objective of protesting against Apple's contentious labor practices, which have come under the scanner after widespread media reports about labor abuses - including low salaries, long work hours and deplorable working conditions - at the Chinese factories which manufacture Apple's iPhones and iPads.

In addition, the CNET report also said that the OWS members will also apparently protest against what they consider as the commercialization and squander represented by Apple and its devices.

Even though the two `Occupy' activists stopped short of telling CNET what form the OWS protest will exactly take or when, the report revealed that the group of OWS members who joined the iPhone 5 line seemingly possessed some small signs --- a disclosure which apparently prompted the police to set up crowd-control barriers as a precautionary measure to handle possible protests.