Microsoft has fired two employees that were involved in a sit-in protest in vice chair and president Brad Smith’s office. Software engineers Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle were both dismissed today, after being part of a group of seven protesters that managed to get inside Smith’s office in Building 34 yesterday.
Microsoft was forced to temporarily lock down its executive building. The protesters live streamed themselves on Twitch entering Smith’s office, and demanded that the company cut ties with the Israeli government. Microsoft employees Anna Hattle and Riki Fameli were both arrested during the incident, alongside former Microsoft employees Vaniya Agrawal, Hossam Nasr, and Joe Lopez. A former Google employee and another tech worker were also arrested.
An unnamed Microsoft spokesperson told GeekWire that the two employees were terminated “following serious breaches of company policies and our code of conduct.” Microsoft refused to provide an attributable statement to The Verge.
Hours after the protesters were arrested, Brad Smith then held an emergency press conference in his office. Seated on the edge of his desk, Smith addressed a group of reporters and viewers on a YouTube live stream. Smith said that Microsoft is “committed to ensuring its human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld in the Middle East.” He said the company launched an investigation earlier this month after The Guardian reported that Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was being used for surveillance of Palestinians.
Hattle was previously arrested during protests at Microsoft’s headquarters last week, where Redmond police arrested 20 people after a group took over a plaza at Microsoft’s headquarters to protest against the company’s contracts with Israel. Protestors at Microsoft’s campus set up a “Liberated Zone” encampment, and poured red paint over a Microsoft sign on campus.
The latest protests were organized by No Azure for Apartheid, a group of current and former Microsoft workers who are demanding that the company cut its ties with the Israeli government. The group has carried out a variety of protests in recent months, with the latest disruptions escalating to the homes and offices of Microsoft executives.
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