News - World: Employees and activists have gathered at Microsoft’s Redmond, Washington headquarters, demanding the company cut its ties with the Israeli regime and stop its contribution of deadly technology to Tel Aviv’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.

The rally, which had gathered around 36 participants, began on Tuesday in a central plaza on Microsoft’s main campus, where protesters pitched tents and declared the space a “liberated zone.”

Addressing the crowd through a microphone, former employee and protest organizer Hossam Nasr said, “We are here because over 22 months of genocide, Israel — powered by Microsoft — has been killing, maiming Palestinian children every hour.”

Police forces protesters to shift to public ground

Roughly an hour later, a Redmond police officer warned demonstrators over a loudspeaker that they were trespassing and could face arrest if they stayed.

The protesters were forced to fold up their tents and banners before regrouping on a nearby sidewalk.

For more than a year, an employee-led group called “No Azure for Apartheid” has urged the company to end contracts with the regime and its military agencies.

Activists have repeatedly reminded that Microsoft’s Azure cloud-computing platform directly enabled surveillance and military strikes against Palestinians.

Several organizers have been fired for what Microsoft has described as “unauthorized protests and disruptions at executive events.”

Employees and their former colleagues, however, continue to speak out.

“Microsoft is the most complicit digital arms manufacturer in Israel’s genocide of Gaza,” said Nisreen Jaradat, a current employee.

Company denials under scrutiny

Microsoft has publicly denied any involvement in the regime's atrocities. In a blog post in May, it claimed it had “found no evidence to date that Microsoft’s Azure and AI technologies have been used to target or harm people” in Gaza.

Earlier this month, though, the company hired the law firm Covington & Burling to conduct, what it called was, an "outside review" after media reports linked Azure servers to the regime’s operations.

According to The Guardian, +972 Magazine, an Israeli outlet, and Local Call, a Hebrew-language news website, the regime has intercepted millions of Palestinian phone calls and stored them on Microsoft’s cloud.

The Tuesday demonstration at Microsoft reflected a broader protest movement across the United States.

Since the start of the genocide in October 2023, students at more than 100 universities, including Columbia, have staged encampments, demanding their schools divest from the regime and weapons manufacturers that keep feeding Israeli aggression.

Source: Press TV