Microsoft employee arrested at headquarters while protesting Israel contracts
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Summary
A Microsoft employee has been among those arrested during protests at the company’s Redmond headquarters this week.
The protests were held by a group called No Azure for Apartheid, composed of Microsoft workers and ex-workers, along with members of the local community, and aimed to raise awareness of the company’s collaboration with Israel.
The group set up an encampment at the site and poured red paint over a Microsoft sign, and police claim that some protestors also blocked a pedestrian bridge and created a barrier using stolen tables and chairs, with 18 arrests in total made during the second day of protests.
One of those arrested was Anna Hattle, a software engineer in Microsoft’s cloud and AI team.
The protests come just days after an investigation revealed the Israeli government is using Microsoft’s cloud services to store recordings of up to a million calls made by Palestinians every hour.