REDMOND, Wash. — A protest encampment established at Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond was forcibly dismantled by police on Wednesday, Aug. 20, leading to the arrests of 20 demonstrators. The action followed a two-day standoff between the company, local law enforcement, and the No Azure for Apartheid Coalition, a group of current and former Microsoft employees and community members protesting the company’s contracts with the Israeli military.
Protest Escalates at East Campus Plaza
The encampment was first established Tuesday afternoon in Microsoft’s East Campus Plaza, which protesters symbolically renamed “The Martyred Palestinian Children’s Plaza.” Participants described the area as a “liberated zone,” highlighting their opposition to Microsoft’s role in providing technology allegedly used by Israel to surveil and target Palestinians.
According to the coalition, the protest was a response to recent investigations by The Guardian and +972 Magazine, which reported that Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform has been used to store and analyze vast amounts of surveillance data collected on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The protesters said their encampment was meant to spotlight how Microsoft’s partnerships “enable mass surveillance, justify extrajudicial killings, and contribute to human rights violations.”
Police Intervention
On Tuesday, Microsoft security and Redmond police ordered protesters to leave the campus, warning them of possible arrests. Many left, but demonstrators returned on Wednesday around 12:00 p.m. PT to re-establish the encampment.
By early afternoon, tensions escalated as Redmond Police, assisted by Washington State Patrol and officers from Bellevue and Kirkland, surrounded the camp. Around 12:15 p.m., police began issuing trespass orders before moving in to forcibly dismantle tents and arrest protesters.
Journalist Maximillian Alvarez, editor-in-chief of The Real News Network, documented the confrontation in a continuous 37-minute video. Alvarez, who was among the few journalists on site, disputed police claims that protesters acted aggressively.
“I was standing and filming 10 feet away the entire time, and I saw nothing of the sort,” Alvarez said. “The protesters weren’t threatening or harming anyone.”
Conflicting Accounts
Police reported that demonstrators became “aggressive” and resisted trespass orders. They also claimed that protesters disrupted a nearby lunchtime farmer’s market for Microsoft employees, seizing tables and tents from local vendors.
In a statement to Fox13, a Microsoft spokesperson said:
“Yesterday, approximately 35 protesters gathered and protested on the Microsoft campus. When local police officers informed them that this was not permitted on private property, they left.
Today, the group returned and engaged in vandalism and property damage. They also disrupted, harassed, and took tables and tents from local small businesses… Local police officers made multiple arrests.
As we have made clear, Microsoft is committed to its human rights standards and contractual terms of service, including in the Middle East. The company announced last week that it is pursuing a thorough and independent review of new allegations first reported earlier this month about the purported use of its Azure platform in Israel.”
Larger Context: Microsoft and Military Contracts
The protest is part of a growing wave of employee-led dissent against major tech companies over their contracts with governments and militaries. Microsoft has faced scrutiny for years regarding its partnerships with the Israeli Defense Ministry, particularly in relation to surveillance programs in occupied Palestinian territories.
Following the recent reporting, Microsoft announced it had launched an “urgent, independent review” into the alleged use of Azure technology by Israel’s military intelligence agency.
Arrests and Aftermath
The 20 arrested protesters were part of the No Azure for Apartheid Coalition, which includes tech workers and local community activists. They now face possible trespassing and other charges.
Coalition members maintain that their protest was peaceful, and that police and corporate security responded with excessive force. On social media, the group vowed to continue organizing against Microsoft until the company ends its contracts with the Israeli military.
Community Response
The incident has sparked debate in the Seattle area, where protests over tech industry ties to global conflicts have intensified. Supporters of the encampment called the arrests a violation of free speech and assembly rights, while Microsoft defended its response as necessary to protect employees and business operations.
For many involved, the events at Microsoft HQ reflect a broader clash between corporate responsibility, human rights advocacy, and law enforcement intervention.
As Alvarez wrote after posting his footage: “This isn’t just about Microsoft. It’s about the dangerous precedent of silencing dissent through force.”
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