Current and former Microsoft workers arrested at pro-Palestine sit-in
Redmond, Washington - At least seven demonstrators were reportedly arrested during a pro-Palestine sit-in at the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith.
"Just now, current and former tech workers from Microsoft, Google, Oracle and more have been successfully able to occupy the office of Brad Smith, Microsoft Vice Chairman and President, to protest Microsoft's indispensable role in powering the genocide in Gaza and the mass surveillance of Palestinians," No Azure for Apartheid posted on Instagram on Tuesday, adding that "worker pressure has reached a tipping point."
"This is part of a global call for the Worker Intifada: an uprising of workers who refuse to allow their labor to be used for genocide," the group added.
According to The Guardian, at least two current Microsoft employees, three former employees, and two other tech workers were arrested during the action at the company headquarters in Redmond.
Former Microsoft worker Abdo Mohamed told the outlet police had placed the demonstrators in full-body harnesses and carried them out of the building.
"No arrests, no violence, will deter us from continuing to speak up," Mohamed said.
Microsoft employees demand No Azure for Apartheid
No Azure for Apartheid – a worker-led campaign calling on the company to cut ties with Israel – reported that all seven arrested demonstrators have since been released.
"As we recognize the sacrifice made by those arrested, we also recognize that this militarism and physical violence pale in comparison to the experiences Palestinians are forced to endure," the group wrote in a separate Instagram post.
"Every day for the past 22 months, the Israeli military has used Microsoft technology to starve and bomb Palestinians in Gaza, while actively displacing Palestinians in an ongoing campaign of ethnic cleansing."
No Azure for Apartheid is calling on Microsoft to end all Azure contracts and partnerships with the Israeli military and government and to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Azure is Microsoft's cloud computing platform, which Israel has reportedly used to conduct mass surveillance and record phone calls made by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Microsoft announced earlier this month it was conducting a review of the allegations, but many employees and former employees are urging more decisive action.
"THE MORE THEY TRY TO SILENCE US, THE LOUDER WE WILL BE! POWER TO THE PEOPLE! NO AZURE FOR APARTHEID!" the group wrote.
Cover photo: JASON REDMOND / AFP