Microsoft headquarters go into lockdown after activists take over Brad Smith’s office

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 possibly can’t conceal, you’re supporting genocide!’ and posting a mock authorized summons charging Smith with “crimes in opposition to humanity.”

Microsoft didn’t reply to Trendster’s request for remark earlier within the day, however a couple of hours after the occupation, Smith held a unexpectedly known as press convention beside his desk to deal with the extraordinary occasions. Of the seven folks concerned, he stated, simply two have been present Microsoft workers and one was a former Google worker, Smith stated.

He additionally advised reporters gathered on the scene — together with from GeekWire — that after the protesters refused to go away 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 stated the protesters’ actions have been “not vital with a view 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.

In line with a report earlier within the day by The Verge, the protest included each lively 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 companies to retailer information from hundreds of thousands of calls every day made by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Financial institution.

Monday’s company takeover mirrored ways from Google workers greater than a yr 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.

The Google protesters focused Challenge Nimbus, a $1.2 billion contract with Amazon that gives Israel’s authorities and army with cloud computing and AI instruments. The workers’ sit-ins and arrests have been equally livestreamed on Twitch; three days later, 28 workers concerned in these protests have been fired.

Replace: This story was up to date to replicate Smith’s feedback, which have been made hours after the protesters in his workplace have been eliminated however after this piece was first revealed.