Eighteen Microsoft employees were arrested on Wednesday as worker-led demonstrations against the company’s Israeli military contracts erupted into property damage and police confrontation at the tech giant’s Redmond headquarters, according to ABC News.
The arrests occurred after protesters “resisted and became aggressive” when police declared them to be trespassing, stated Redmond Police Department spokesperson Jill Green. Demonstrators also vandalized Microsoft property by splattering red paint across the landmark company logo sign.
“Please leave or you will be arrested,” officers warned the protesters, according to Green. “They chose not to leave, so they were detained,” she added.
The confrontational demonstrations followed Microsoft‘s announcement of an “urgent” investigation into allegations that the Israel Defense Forces utilized the company’s Azure cloud computing platform for mass surveillance of Palestinian civilians. The British newspaper The Guardian reported these claims, prompting Microsoft to engage law firm Covington & Burling for the review.
“Microsoft’s standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage,” the company declared on Friday, adding that the report contains “precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review.”
The Associated Press revealed in February that Microsoft‘s partnership with Israel’s Defense Ministry dramatically expanded after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel. Military use of the company’s commercial artificial intelligence products increased by a factor of nearly 200, with Israeli forces employing Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence from mass surveillance operations, according to the report.
The employee-led No Azure for Apartheid group organized the protests, demanding immediate termination of Microsoft’s defense contracts. The organization accused the technology of “being used to surveil, starve, and kill Palestinians.”
Microsoft terminated three employees this year for disrupting company events to protest the Israeli contracts. The company fired one worker in May for interrupting CEO Satya Nadella’s speech and dismissed two others in April for disrupting the corporation’s 50th anniversary celebration.
Protesters called for a “worker intifada” on Tuesday, using terminology that evokes the violent Palestinian uprisings against Israelis beginning in 1987.
Police arrested 18 demonstrators on Wednesday “for multiple charges, including trespassing, malicious mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction,” though authorities did not specify how many were Microsoft employees. No injuries occurred during the arrests.
The company declared after the arrests that it “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.”
Microsoft acknowledged military applications of its technology following the AP investigation, but maintained that an internal review found no evidence that Azure platforms targeted or harmed Gaza civilians.
Originally published by Israel Hayom.
