Protests at Microsoft Campus Result in Eighteen Arrests

Eighteen individuals were apprehended on Wednesday during protests at Microsoft’s Redmond campus, as demonstrations against the firm’s business connections with Israel extended into a second day.

According to local authorities, Redmond police received reports and dispatched officers around 12:15pm to manage a significant gathering in the Microsoft courtyard. Officials stated that the demonstrators resisted dispersal orders, and some engaged in vandalism, including the splashing of paint on a Microsoft sign and obstructing a pedestrian bridge with tables and chairs from a nearby farmers’ market.

Redmond police report on the protest: “Officers took 18 into custody for multiple charges, including trespassing, malicious mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction. No injuries were reported,” they noted on X, while also sharing images of red paint smeared across a Microsoft logo.

The arrests followed a more extensive action on Tuesday, where around 50 current and former Microsoft employees, supported by community activists, occupied the East Campus Plaza. This group, part of the “No Azure for Apartheid” campaign, renamed the area “Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza,” set up tents and memorials, and urged executives to sever ties with the Israeli military.

The protesters contend that Microsoft’s technology is employed in Gaza for extensive surveillance and military operations. Reports from The Guardian and +972 Magazine earlier revealed that Israel’s military intelligence stored millions of Palestinian phone calls on Azure servers, later utilizing this data to inform bombing targets. Furthermore, the Associated Press reported in February that Israel’s use of Microsoft’s AI products surged nearly 200-fold following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023.

Microsoft has responded by hiring the law firm Covington & Burling to thoroughly investigate these claims but asserts that it has “found no evidence” supporting the allegation that its technologies have been used to target civilians.

In a statement to Bloomberg, Microsoft declared, “Today, the group returned and engaged in vandalism and property damage. They also disrupted, harassed, and took tables and tents from local small businesses at a lunchtime farmer’s market for employees.”

The company reiterated its commitment to uphold 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.”