Microsoft President Brad Smith held an impromptu press conference on Tuesday afternoon, shortly after protesters gained access to a building at the company’s headquarters and staged a sit-in demonstration in his office.
Sitting on the edge of his desk in the office that had been occupied by protesters earlier in the day, Smith addressed a group of reporters and live stream viewers. “Obviously, this was an unusual day,” he remarked, as the camera slightly shook during his statement.
The protesters were affiliated with the group No Azure for Apartheid, which has repeatedly interrupted Microsoft’s public presentations this year to demand the termination of all contracts with the Israeli government and military.
Smith emphasized that Microsoft is committed to upholding its human rights principles and terms of service in the Middle East. He mentioned that the company initiated an investigation earlier this month following a Guardian report that revealed Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform was being used for surveillance of Palestinians. While Smith stated that Microsoft disagreed with some of the report’s findings, he acknowledged that others required further investigation.
“We are working every day to get to the bottom of what’s going on, and we will,” Smith said.
Abdo Mohamed, an organizer for No Azure for Apartheid, told The Verge earlier in the day that current Microsoft employees Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle participated in the protest. They were joined by former employees Vaniya Agrawal, Hossam Nasr, and Joe Lopez.
Smith stated that seven individuals were involved in today’s protests, with two of them being Microsoft employees. He added that the protesters were removed by Redmond police.
“When seven folks do as they did today, storm a building, occupy an office, lock other people out of the office, plant listening devices—even in crude form, like hiding cell phones under couches and behind books—that’s not okay,” Smith said. “When they’re asked to leave and they refuse, that’s not okay.”
