Microsoft staff occupy offices in protest at ties to Israeli military

Dozens of Microsoft employees occupied the company's east campus in Redmond, Washington, on Tuesday to protest against what they said was the use of its software by the Israeli military to carry out operations in Gaza and to enable the surveillance of Palestinians.

- Andrew Buncombe

Less than a week after the company said it was launching an independent investigation into the use of its Azure software, current and former staff occupied a space they declared a "free zone", holding placards that read "Join the Worker Intifada - No Labor for Genocide" and "Martyred Palestinian Children's Plaza".

The protests, organised by a group called No Azure for Apartheid, demanded that Microsoft divest from Israel. In May an employee, Joe Lopez, interrupted a speech by the CEO, Satya Nadella, at the annual developer conference. "Satya, how about you show how Microsoft is killing Palestinians?" he said.