Microsoft HQ Lockdown: Activists Occupy Brad Smith’s Office
▼ Summary
– Protesters stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters and occupied president Brad Smith’s office, forcing a temporary lockdown while livestreaming their sit-in on Twitch.
– The “No Azure for Apartheid” group accused Microsoft of supporting genocide and posted a mock legal summons charging Smith with crimes against humanity.
– Redmond police physically removed and arrested all seven protesters on trespassing and obstruction charges after they refused to leave when asked.
– Smith stated the protesters’ actions were unnecessary and distracting, noting that only two were current Microsoft employees while one was a former Google employee.
– The protest follows months of activism against Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel, which reportedly include storing data from millions of Palestinian calls daily.
Microsoft’s Redmond campus entered a temporary lockdown on Monday after activists occupied the office of company president Brad Smith, protesting the tech giant’s cloud computing contracts with Israel. The group, identifying itself as “No Azure for Apartheid,” live-streamed the demonstration on Twitch, displaying banners and chanting slogans accusing Smith of supporting genocide.
During a hastily arranged press conference held beside his desk, Smith confirmed that seven individuals were involved in the occupation. He noted that only two were current Microsoft employees, while one had previously worked at Google. After the protesters refused to leave voluntarily, Redmond police intervened, physically removing them from the building. All seven were arrested on charges including trespassing and obstruction.
Smith expressed frustration with the method of protest, stating that such actions were unnecessary and distracted from ongoing internal dialogues with employee groups representing diverse backgrounds and perspectives. He emphasized Microsoft’s commitment to engaging with staff through established channels rather than through confrontational demonstrations.
The protest follows months of escalating tension over Microsoft’s business dealings in Israel. A recent investigation by The Guardian revealed that Israeli authorities use Microsoft’s cloud services to store data from millions of daily phone calls made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Earlier activism on the same issue had already resulted in employee terminations and previous arrests at the company’s headquarters.
This incident mirrors tactics employed by Google employees over a year earlier. In April 2024, nine Google workers staged sit-ins, including a nine-hour occupation of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s office. Those protests targeted Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract involving Amazon that provides AI and computing tools to the Israeli government and military. Like Monday’s action at Microsoft, the Google protests were live-streamed, and ultimately led to the firing of 28 employees.
The ongoing wave of tech worker activism highlights growing internal dissent over corporate contracts with military and government entities, raising questions about ethical responsibility in the technology sector.
(Source: TechCrunch)
