Google Fires 28 Workers Protesting Billion-Dollar Israeli Cloud Contract

Google fired 28 employees on Wednesday after a number of workers at the company participated in a sit-in protest against its cloud contract with the Israeli government, a day after nine staffers were suspended and then arrested for participating in the protest.

The company announced the firings in an internal memo alleging the protesting workers “took over office spaces, defaced our property, and physically impeded the work of other Googlers.”

The protests took place on Tuesday at Google’s Sunnyvale and New York offices

The memo said their actions were “unacceptable, extremely disruptive, and made coworkers feel threatened,” and the firings were made after an n internal investigation that will continue.

The group behind the protests, called No Tech for Apartheid, issued a statement late Wednesday saying Google’s workers had the “right to peacefully protest about terms and conditions of our labor,” and said the firings were “clearly retaliatory.”