Microsoft Protesters Occupy President’s Office

Police have arrested seven people after they occupied the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith in protest of the company’s ties to the Israel Defense Forces during the ongoing war in Gaza, organizers said, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The group has been demonstrating for months. (Photo: Harry Murphy / Web Summit Flickr via Sportsfile)

Current and former Microsoft employees were among those arrested, according to the protest group No Azure for Apartheid.

Azure is Microsoft’s primary cloud computing platform, and the company has said it is reviewing a report in a British newspaper this month that Israel has used it to facilitate attacks on Palestinian targets.

Protesters could be seen huddled together on a Twitch livestream as officers moved in to arrest them, while another group assembled outside.

During a recent media briefing, Smith confirmed that two of those arrested were Microsoft employees. Eighteen people were arrested in a similar protest at the company’s headquarters plaza last week.

The group has been demonstrating for months.

Microsoft in May fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella, and in April dismissed two others who disrupted the company’s 50th anniversary celebration.

The group’s demands include cutting ties with Israel and paying reparations to Palestinians.

The Guardian reported this month that the Israel Defense Forces used Microsoft’s Azure cloud computing platform to store phone call data obtained through mass surveillance of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Microsoft said it has hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations, adding that such use would violate its terms of service.