Google fires 28 staff after protests against cloud contract with Israel

Tech giant says employees engaged in ‘completely unacceptable behaviour’ during sit-in at company offices.

Google has fired 28 employees following a sit-down protest over the tech giant’s contract to provide cloud computing and artificial intelligence services to the Israeli government

The terminations come after the group No Tech for Apartheid on Tuesday occupied Google offices in California and New York to protest the $1.2bn contract known as Project Nimbus.

Video of the demonstrations shared on social media showed police arresting employees in the office of Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian.

In a statement on Thursday, Google said that physically impeding employees and preventing them from accessing company facilities was a “clear violation of our policies and completely unacceptable behaviour”.

“After refusing multiple requests to leave the premises, law enforcement was engaged to remove them to ensure office safety,” a spokesperson said. “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.”