Redmond Protests Against Microsoft’s Israel Ties Lead to Dozens of Arrests
The second day of anti-Israeli actions on the Microsoft Campus in Redmond led to escalation. Yesterday afternoon (local time) it ended with the fact that the police arrested 18 people, including several former employees of the company.
Barricades and more
The demonstrations were organized by the activist group “No Azure for Apartheid” – a trivialization of real apartheid – which Microsoft asks to end all contracts with state agencies. The group accuses the company that its cloud services and other technologies are used in the Gaza strip for surveillance, to block the supply and ultimately also to kill civilians – however, there are no clear evidence of this.
According to the police in Redmond, the operation began around 12:15 p.m. local time, reported the US magazine Geekwire. At that time, activists poured the large Microsoft logo with red color and put together furniture on a pedestrian bridge into barricades. In contrast to the day before, when demonstrating were voluntarily deducted after a warning, they resisted the eviction requests and provides resistance this time. The police spoke of “aggressive behavior”.
In addition to the local forces, the Washington State Patrol and police units from Bellevue and Kirkland were also used. The arrested broken fracture, property damage, resistance to enforcement officers and disabilities of the work of the police is accused. According to official information, there were no injuries.
Old acquaintance
Among the arrested were also Hossam Nasr, a leading head of the movement that had been released last year after a similar action by Microsoft. Abdo Mohamed, also ex-employee, was also involved. After the protest, he announced further “escalations” as long as Microsoft works economically with Israel. Microsoft himself accused the demonstrating vandalism and disorders of business operations. According to a statement, they would also have affected a farmers’ market on campus that was actually intended for employees.
At the same time, the company emphasized that he would comply with its human rights standards in the Middle East and declared that he had commissioned an independent law firm to investigate new allegations. The trigger for this exam is media reports that Israeli security forces Microsoft servers are said to have used for a large-scale surveillance of Palestinian civilians. Microsoft explained to want to publish the results of this investigation after completion. A clear demarcation between uninvolved civilians and fighters from the terrorist organization Hamas, which Gaza rules and triggered the current war, is extremely difficult.
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