Microsoft HQ in lockdown after protesters storm Brad Smith’s office
Protesters from the “No Azure for Apartheid” group broke into Microsoft’s Redmond headquarters Monday. They reached president Brad Smith’s office in Building 34, triggering a temporary lockdown. The group live-streamed the sit-in on Twitch, chanting and displaying banners accusing Smith of “supporting genocide.” They even posted a mock legal summons charging him with “crimes against humanity.”
The protest included current Microsoft employees and former ones fired for past activism. This follows months of growing unrest over Microsoft’s cloud deals with Israel, including earlier arrests at company HQ. 
A recent Guardian investigation revealed Israel uses Microsoft’s cloud to store data from millions of Palestinian calls daily.
The move echoes last year’s Google protests against Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud contract with Israel and Amazon. In April 2024, nine Google workers staged protests across offices, including a nine-hour sit-in in CEO Thomas Kurian’s office. Their Twitch streams and arrests led to 28 firings.
TechCrunch reached out to Microsoft for comment. No official response yet.
