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Less than a week after 18 protesters associated with activist group No Azure for Apartheid were arrested while protesting Microsoft’s dealings with the Israeli military, the group has staged a sit-in inside the office of Microsoft president Brad Smith. A report by The Verge says the building was subsequently locked down.

The protesters recorded at least two videos from inside Microsoft’s Building 34, including one showing what appears to be security attempting to remove them, and posted them to Twitch, but they were quickly deleted.

No Azure for Apartheid said protesters also deployed noisemakers attached to balloons prior to the sit-in, and posted notices reading, “The People’s Court Summons Bradford Lee Smith on Charges of Crimes Against Humanity.”

Two banners were also hung inside Building 34, one declaring it renamed to “Mai Ubeid Building” and another repeating No Azure for Apartheid’s demands:

Cut Ties with Israel
Call for an End to the Genocide and Forced Starvation
Pay Reparations to the Palestinians
End the Discrimination Against Workers

Current and former Microsoft workers are supporting the sit-in with a rally being held outside, during which copies of the document “We will not be cogs in the Israeli genocidal machine: a call for a Worker Intifada” were distributed. An 18-foot scroll displaying the signatures of more than 2,000 people who have signed No Azure for Apartheid’s online petition was also displayed.

The occupation of Smith’s office represents a significant escalation over previous protests, which began earlier this year with individual employees disrupting Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event and Build conference. Earlier this month, protesters set up an encampment in Microsoft’s East Campus Plaza, which was dispersed by police; the group returned the following day, and police subsequently arrested 18 protesters.

Microsoft has thus far refused to engage with the protesters but they seem to be having an impact, as pressure on the company to end its work with the Israeli government is growing. A group of Microsoft shareholders have demanded a report into the company’s “human rights due diligence” over allegations of war crime complicity in Gaza and some employees of Microsoft-owned studio Arkane Lyon have also called on the company to stop supporting the Israeli government. The BDS (Boycott, Divest, Sanctions) movement has called for a boycott of Microsoft’s products due to its dealings with Israel.

A recent report by The Guardian has alleged that Israel is using Microsoft’s cloud services for mass surveillance of Palestinians. Microsoft has said that it’s “pursuing a thorough and independent review of new allegations first reported earlier this month about the purported use of its Azure platform in Israel.”

We’ve reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update if we receive a reply.

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Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has been summoned to appear before a French court, following a trial in which three former executives were found guilty of workplace harassment in June.

In that trial, Serge Hascoët, Tommy François, and Guillaume Patrux were all given fines and suspended sentences ranging between twelve months and three years, after being convicted based on accusations including sexual misconduct, bullying and systemic racism. All three either resigned or were dismissed from Ubisoft following reports of their conduct in 2020.

Now, the trade union Solidaires Informatique and four other individuals, who were all involved in that original trial, have filed a subpoena instructing Guillemot to appear before the Brobigny District Court on October 1. As reported by French news network BFM TV (via VGC), the summons is in relation to that trial.

In a statement to VGC, Ubisoft confirmed it had received summons from the union and related parties to appear before the court, specifying that “these are the same civil parties and this summons is based on the same facts as those in the case judged by the court this past June, following an investigation by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.”

Ubisoft added that “After that investigation, and contrary to the civil parties’ requests, the Public Prosecutor’s Office decided that there were no grounds to initiate criminal proceedings against Ubisoft or its management, a decision it confirmed during its closing arguments at the hearing last June.”

Ubisoft concluded by saying it would “continue to cooperate with the justice system in this matter, as it has done over the past five years in the review of the facts related to this case.”

Hascoët, formerly Ubisoft’s chief creative officer, received an 18-month suspended sentence and a fine of €40,000/$47,190, after being found guilty of “psychological harassment and complicity in sexual harassment.” According to both court testimony and an internal Ubisoft investigation, employees under Hascoët were subjected to racial slurs and Islamophobic pranks.

François, meanwhile, was convicted on charges of sexual misconduct and attempted sexual assault, accused of trying to forcibly kiss an employee who was restrained during a holiday party. The former vice president of editorial and creative services received a heavier suspended sentence of three-years and a fine of €30,000/$35,340. Former game director Patrux received a 12-month suspended term and a €10,000/$11,800 fine. His sentencing described his bullying as “smaller scale” but “particularly intense”.

In May, it was reported that Guillemot and Ubisoft’s human resources director Marie Derain would be summoned to testify in the original trial. But Ubisoft denied this report, stating that “Neither Ubisoft, Yves, nor anyone from our HR team are parties to these proceedings.”

In addition to its statement responding to the summons, Ubisoft’s executive vice president Cecile Russeil said “Our top priority is to ensure the absolute protection of the physical and moral integrity of its employees, through a policy of prevention and zero tolerance with regard to sexual or moral harassment, sexist behaviour, assault, insult, or discrimination of any kind.”

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Protestors occupy Microsoft president’s office as opposition to the company’s dealings with the Israeli military continue to escalate

Ubisoft CEO summoned to appear before French court in relation to harassment trial, as the publisher says it will ‘continue to cooperate with the justice system in this matter’