At Microsoft headquarters on Wednesday, 18 people were arrested from worker-led protests as they called for the company to cut business ties with Israel, spurring the tech giant to pledge an "urgent" review of the Israeli military's use of its technology during the ongoing war in Gaza, reports Associated Press.
It was the second consecutive day of protests at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington.
According to the Redmond Police Department, the protesters on Wednesday "resisted and became aggressive" after the company told police they were trespassing, unlike Tuesday, when the protesters occupying an office plaza left at Microsoft's behest.
Moreover, the protesters bathed a landmark sign that bears the company logo and the name in big letters with red paint, signifying the colour of blood.
The police department said it took 18 people into custody "for multiple charges, including trespassing, malicious mischief, resisting arrest, and obstruction."
It wasn't clear how many were Microsoft employees.
"We said, 'Please leave or you will be arrested,' and they chose not to leave so they were detained," said police spokesperson Jill Green.
Last week, Microsoft said it was appointing a law firm to investigate allegations reported by the British newspaper The Guardian that the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) used Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform to store phone call data of the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, procured through mass surveillance.
"Microsoft's standard terms of service prohibit this type of usage," the company said in a statement posted Friday, adding that the report raises "precise allegations that merit a full and urgent review".
In February, The Associated Press revealed previously unreported details about the tech giant's close partnership with the Israeli Ministry of Defence.
The investigation showed the Israeli military's use of commercial artificial intelligence products skyrocketed by nearly 200 times after the deadly Hamas attack on 7 October 2023.
The AP reported that the military uses Azure to transcribe, translate and process intelligence gathered through mass surveillance, which can then be cross-checked with Israel's in-house AI-enabled targeting systems.
Following the report, Microsoft acknowledged the military applications but stated that an independent review it commissioned found no evidence that Azure or its AI technologies were used to target or harm people in Gaza.
However, Microsoft did not share a copy of that review or say who conducted it.
Microsoft said it will share the findings of the latest review upon completion by law firm Covington & Burling.
The promise of a second review was not enough for the employee-led 'No Azure for Apartheid' group, which for months has protested Microsoft's supplying the Israeli military with technology used for its war on Gaza.
The group said on Wednesday that the technology is "being used to surveil, starve and kill Palestinians."
In May, Microsoft fired an employee who interrupted a speech by CEO Satya Nadella to protest the contracts, and in April, two others were fired for interrupting the company's 50th anniversary celebrations.
On Tuesday, the protesters posted a call online for what they called a "worker intifada," using language suggestive of the Palestinian uprisings against Israeli military occupation that began in 1987.
Microsoft said in a statement after the arrests that it "will continue to do the hard work needed to uphold its human rights standards in the Middle East, while supporting and taking clear steps to address unlawful actions that damage property, disrupt business or that threaten and harm others."
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