California: US corporation Google has fired 28 employees who took part in protests against the tech giant's $1.2 billion project to supply the Israeli government with cloud computing services, US media reported on Thursday, citing a Google spokeswoman and employees.
On Tuesday, nine Google workers were arrested on trespassing charges after staging sit-ins against Project Nimbus at the company's offices in New York and Sunnyvale, California, The New York Times reported.
"Physically impeding other employees' work and preventing them from accessing our facilities is a clear violation of our policies and completely unacceptable behaviour," a Google spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Google employees affiliated with the No Tech For Apartheid group that led the strikes criticised the firings as "a flagrant act of retaliation."
"Google workers have the right to peacefully protest about the terms and conditions of our labour," the employees were quoted by the newspaper as saying in a statement.
Some of the workers fired by Google are alleged to have not participated in the sit-ins.
Project Nimbus was announced in 2021 and was aimed at providing Israeli ministries with cloud software. Some Google employees have reportedly expressed concern that the company is aiding Israel's military. A Google spokeswoman was quoted as saying that Nimbus "is not directed at highly sensitive, classified, or military workloads relevant to weapons or intelligence services."
