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Current and former Microsoft employees, joined by community members, occupied part of the company's global headquarters on Tuesday and Wednesday to protest the tech giant's contracts with the Israeli military, resulting in 18 arrests on the second day of demonstrations.
The protest group No Azure for Apartheid, consisting of approximately 50 people, set up tents and displays at East Campus Plaza, which they renamed "Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza," according to The Verge.
The group declared the site a "Liberated Zone" in a video posted on the social media platform X.
While protesters were moved peacefully during Tuesday's initial occupation, Wednesday's demonstration escalated with 18 arrests, including at least one current Microsoft employee.
Redmond Police reported that some protesters "became aggressive," blocked a pedestrian bridge, and "tried to create a barrier using stolen tables and chairs," according to Komo News.
Protesters poured red paint over a Microsoft sign on campus during the second day of demonstrations, maintaining their encampment despite police intervention.
Anna Hattle, a software engineer in Microsoft's cloud and AI team, was among those arrested Wednesday. Abdo Mohamed, a No Azure for Apartheid organizer and former Microsoft employee, confirmed to the technology news website The Verge that Hattle, along with former Microsoft employees Hossam Nasr and Vaniya Agrawal, were taken into custody.
"Those arrested include current and former Microsoft workers as well as Seattle community members," the No Azure for Apartheid group said in a press release.
The protesters demanded that Microsoft end its contracts with the Israeli military and placed a table at the site, urging company executives to "come to the table" for negotiations.
"Every day for the past 22 months, the Microsoft-powered mass surveillance weapon has been used to facilitate the bombardment and massacring of Palestinians in Gaza," the group stated in a press release, describing the action as the largest yet against Microsoft.
The demonstrations come days after The Guardian, in partnership with +972 Magazine and Local Call, published an investigation revealing that the Israeli government relies on Microsoft's cloud services to store recordings and data of up to "a million calls an hour" made by Palestinians.
The No Azure for Apartheid group has organized a series of protests against Microsoft's cloud contracts with the Israeli government in recent months.
In April, two employees separately interrupted speeches by Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella and Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman to criticize the company's role in supplying technology to Israel. Both were subsequently dismissed.
A former Microsoft employee also disrupted the company's 50th anniversary event, calling Suleyman a "war profiteer." The group disrupted Microsoft's Build conference earlier this year multiple times, prompting Microsoft to block emails containing "Palestine" after these employee protests.
An unnamed Microsoft spokesperson told Komo News that the company "announced last week that it is pursuing a thorough and independent review of new allegations first reported earlier this month about the purported use of its Azure platform in Israel."
"Microsoft will continue to do the hard work needed to uphold its human rights standards in the Middle East, while supporting and taking clear steps to address unlawful actions that damage property, disrupt business or that threaten and harm others," the spokesperson added.
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