Google arrests, suspends anti-Israel workers occupying offices for hours
Anti-Israel activists protesting Google contracts with the Israeli government by occupying the technology giant's office in New York City and Sunnyvale for several hours on Tuesday were arrested and put on administrative leave, according to a Google spokesperson.
Protesters were arrested by police officers after refusing to leave Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's Sunnyvale office or New York City Chelsea workspace for almost ten hours. The sit-in protests were live streamed by the No Tech for Apartheid activist movement, which claims to represent technology company employees against business with the state of Israel.
"Physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies, and we will investigate and take action," a Google spokesperson said. "These employees were put on administrative leave and their access to our systems was cut. After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety."
The occupations of Google workspaces were joined by demonstrations outside the premises and in Seattle. The chief demand of No Tech for Apartheid, a project by Jewish Voice for Peace and Linda Sarsour's MPower Change, was the cancellation of the Project Nimbus contract and cessation of business with the Israeli government. No Tech For Apartheid claimed that Google's technology was being used to support occupation and a so-called genocide in Gaza.
