Protesters stormed Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters on Monday and made it into president Brad Smith’s workplace in Constructing 34, forcing a brief lockdown. The “No Azure for Apartheid” group livestreamed their sit-in on Twitch, hoisting banners, chanting ‘Brad Smith, you may’t disguise, you’re supporting genocide!’ and posting a mock authorized summons charging Smith with “crimes in opposition to humanity.”
Microsoft didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark earlier within the day, however a number of hours after the occupation, Smith held a unexpectedly referred to as press convention beside his desk to handle the extraordinary occasions. Of the seven individuals concerned, he mentioned, simply two had been present Microsoft workers and one was a former Google worker, Smith mentioned.
He additionally instructed reporters gathered on the scene — together with from GeekWire — that after the protesters refused to depart when requested, Redmond police needed to bodily take away them from the constructing. Police arrested all seven on costs together with trespassing and obstruction.
Smith mentioned the protesters’ actions had been “not mandatory to be able to get us to concentrate” and that such exercise “distracts from the actual dialogue” that Microsoft is having with worker teams of various backgrounds, faiths, and cultures inside Microsoft.
Based on a report earlier within the day by The Verge, the protest included each energetic Microsoft staff and former workers who’d been fired for earlier activism. Monday’s escalation follows months of protests over Microsoft’s cloud contracts with Israel, together with latest arrests at firm headquarters.
A latest Guardian investigation revealed Israel makes use of Microsoft’s providers to retailer information from thousands and thousands of calls every day made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Financial institution.
Monday’s company takeover mirrored techniques from Google workers greater than a 12 months in the past. In April 2024, 9 Google staff staged coordinated protests throughout New York and California places of work, with 5 occupying Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian’s workplace for 9 hours. They wrote calls for on his whiteboard and wore “Googler in opposition to genocide” shirts.
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
|
October 27-29, 2025
The Google protesters focused Challenge Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon that gives Israel’s authorities and navy with cloud computing and AI instruments. The staff’ sit-ins and arrests had been equally livestreamed on Twitch; three days later, 28 workers concerned in these protests had been fired.
Replace: This story was up to date to mirror Smith’s feedback, which had been made hours after the protesters in his workplace had been eliminated however after this piece was first printed.
