Google fires employees after disruptive sit-down protest against contract with Israel
PTC News Desk: Google fired 28 employees after a disruptive sit-in protest over the company's contract with the Israeli government, a Google spokesperson said Thursday.
The demonstration was organised by the group "No Tech for Apartheid," which has long opposed "Project Nimbus," Google and Amazon's joint $1.2 billion contract to provide cloud services to the Israeli government.
According to a post by the advocacy group on X, formerly Twitter, a video of the demonstration showed police arresting Google employees in Sunnyvale, California, at Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian's office.
The advocacy group reported that Kurian's office had been occupied for ten hours.
Workers carried signs that read "Googlers Against Genocide," a reference to accusations surrounding Israel's attacks on Gaza.
"No Tech for Apartheid," which also held protests in New York and Seattle, cited an April 12 Time magazine article about a draft contract with Google billing the Israeli Ministry of Defence more than $1 million for consulting services.
A "small number" of employees "disrupted" a few Google locations, but the protests were "part of a longstanding campaign by a group of organisations and people who largely don't work at Google," according to a Google spokesperson.
"After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety," the spokesperson stated.
"We have so far concluded individual investigations that resulted in the termination of employment for 28 employees, and will continue to investigate and take action as needed."
- With inputs from agencies
