Seven demonstrators were arrested after storming the Microsoft headquarters in Redmond and barricading themselves inside an executive suite during a pro-Palestinian protest.
Officers responded around 1 p.m. Tuesday, August 26, to reports of demonstrators gathered outside Microsoft’s campus, Redmond Police said.
Seven people entered Building 34—home to the office of Microsoft President Brad Smith—where they blocked access to an executive office and refused to leave.
The building was temporarily locked down during the sit-in. Police cleared the protesters within about an hour of the office being breached.
All seven were arrested on suspicion of trespassing, resisting arrest, and obstruction. No injuries were reported. The remaining demonstrators moved to public property before dispersing, and no further arrests were made.
The protest was organized by the activist group No Azure for Apartheid, which has staged several demonstrations at Microsoft’s headquarters in recent weeks over the company’s business ties to Israel.
During Tuesday’s sit-in, protesters renamed Building 34 the “Mai Ubeid Building” after a Palestinian software engineer killed in Gaza. They released balloons with noisemakers into the atrium, occupied Smith’s office, and hung banners outlining demands that included cutting ties with Israel and paying reparations to Palestinians.
Smith held a press conference in the same room hours later, saying the company respects free expression but protests must remain lawful.
“We respect the freedom of expression that everyone in this country enjoys as long as they do it lawfully,” Smith said.
Smith also said that only two of the seven people arrested Tuesday had ever been employed by Microsoft, despite protesters describing themselves as current or former workers.
In a similar protest earlier this month, Microsoft said most of those arrested were not affiliated with the company and some carried fake employee badges.
In a statement, the group accused Smith of human rights violations and criticized Microsoft’s Azure technology, claiming it is used by Israel in harmful ways. The company has said it is reviewing how its software is being used.
“There are uses that are permissible, there are uses that are not,” Smith said. “We will do what we can and what we should—and that starts with ensuring our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld everywhere.”
