New Delhi, August 27: Microsoft’s headquarters witnessed a sit-in protest after demonstrators entered the office of company's president Brad Smith. The protest reportedly involved current and former employees of Microsoft who called on the company to cut its ties with the Israeli government. As per reports, some demonstrators inside Brad Smith’s office were heard shouting, "Brad Smith you can’t hide, you’re supporting genocide." Microsoft president Brad Smith held a press conference on Tuesday, shortly after protesters entered a company building and staged a sit-in inside his office.

The incident occurred in Building 34, where protesters is said to have live streamed their entry on Twitch and later displayed banners, which led to a temporary lockdown of the building. As per a report of The Verge, Abdo Mohamed, an organiser for “No Azure for Apartheid” group and a former Microsoft employee who were fired from the company, stated that current staff members Riki Fameli and Anna Hattle joined the sit-in protest. They were accompanied by former Microsoft workers Vaniya Agrawal, Hossam Nasr, and Joe Lopez. Microsoft Copilot Labs Released Featuring 3D Modeling, Allows Creators To Experiment and Create 3-Dimensional Models.

The protest was reportedly within a week, following an earlier incident at Microsoft’s headquarters, where arrests were made. Microsoft software engineer Anna Hattle, along with former employees Vaniya Agrawal, Hossam Nasr, and Joe Lopez, were taken into custody after Redmond police alleged that some protesters had acted "aggressively" during a protest held at a plaza in Microsoft’s headquarters.

Microsoft Press Conference

Microsoft Press Conference on Response to Sit-In Protest and Cloud Investigation

Microsoft president Smith addressed the media in a press conference on Tuesday, held hours after protesters entered a building at the company’s headquarters and staged a sit-in protest. Smith stated that Microsoft is “committed to ensuring that our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld in the Middle East.”

He further stressed the balance between free expression and workplace security, and said, “While we honour freedom of expression that is a hallmark of American life, when seven folks storm a building, occupy an office, and lock others out, that is not okay. When asked to leave, they refused, and that is not okay. That’s why the Redmond police had to take them out of the building. Two of the seven were Microsoft employees, and one of them previously worked at Google.”

Smith added that Microsoft is not a Government, its not a country, it is a company. “There are many things we cannot do to change the world, but we will do what we can and what we should. That starts with ensuring that our human rights principles and contractual terms of service are upheld everywhere by all of our customers around the world. That is what we are focused on doing today, tomorrow, and as quickly we can, including in the Middle East,” he said. ‘Macrohard’: Elon Musk Announces AI Software Company To Take On Microsoft, Says ‘Possible To Simulate Them Entirely With AI’.

He noted that Microsoft had initiated an internal investigation after the Guardian reported, "Israel relying on Microsoft cloud for expansive surveillance of Palestinians." Smith said, “We are working every day to get to the bottom of what’s going on, and we will.” “We cannot do everything we might wish to change the world, but we know our role. We are here to provide technology in an ethical way,” Smith said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 27, 2025 02:55 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).