More than twenty-eight Alphabet employees were dismissed on Wednesday following their involvement in office protests concerning the company's collaboration with Israel, Alphabet confirmed.
The protests occurred at Google offices located in Sunnyvale, California, and New York City on Tuesday, with employees expressing opposition to Project Nimbus—a $1.2 billion joint venture between Google and Amazon, serving Israel's government.
According to a Google spokesperson, the physical obstruction of fellow employees' work and the prevention of facility access violated company policies, prompting investigations and subsequent actions. The terminated employees were placed on administrative leave, with their system access revoked.
Nine individuals were arrested for refusal to vacate the offices—five in Sunnyvale and four in New York, as confirmed by law enforcement officials to Business Insider. In New York, the arrested individuals faced charges of criminal trespassing, while those in Sunnyvale received trespassing citations. The Santa Clara County district attorney's office stated that charges had not yet been filed.
In an internal memo circulated on Wednesday, Chris Rackow, Google's head of security, described the protests as "extremely disruptive" and noted that they engendered feelings of threat among coworkers.