A Microsoft worker has been arrested as a part of protests on the firm’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington this week. On Tuesday, a bunch of present and former Microsoft workers, in addition to neighborhood members, took over a plaza at Microsoft’s headquarters to protest towards the corporate’s contracts with Israel. The No Azure for Apartheid protest group says a minimum of one Microsoft worker has now been arrested as a part of 18 arrests in a second day of protests.
Protestors at Microsoft’s headquarters arrange a “Liberated Zone” encampment for a second day on Wednesday, and poured pink paint over a Microsoft signal on campus. Komo News reports that Redmond Police allege that some protesters additionally “blocked a pedestrian bridge, and tried to create a barrier utilizing stolen tables and chairs.” Whereas the group of protesters have been moved on peacefully on the primary day of protests on Tuesday, Redmond Police arrested 18 folks at Wednesday’s protests and declare some protestors “grew to become aggressive.”
No less than one of many 18 arrested is Anna Hattle, a software program engineer in Microsoft’s cloud and AI group. Abdo Mohamed, a No Azure for Apartheid organizer and former tech employee fired by Microsoft, confirmed to The Verge that Hattle and former Microsoft workers Hossam Nasr and Vaniya Agrawal have been arrested on Wednesday. “These arrested embody present and former Microsoft staff in addition to Seattle neighborhood members,” says the No Azure for Apartheid group in a press launch.
The newest protests come simply days after The Guardian, in partnership with +972 Journal and Native Name, published an investigation which revealed that the Israeli authorities is counting on Microsoft’s cloud providers to retailer recordings and knowledge of as much as “one million calls an hour” made by Palestinians.
“The corporate introduced final week that it’s pursuing an intensive and unbiased evaluation of latest allegations first reported earlier this month in regards to the purported use of its Azure platform in Israel,” says an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson in an announcement to Komo Information. “Microsoft will proceed to do the arduous work wanted to uphold its human rights requirements within the Center East, whereas supporting and taking clear steps to handle illegal actions that harm property, disrupt enterprise or that threaten and hurt others.”
Replace, August twenty first: Article up to date with further particulars on the arrests.