Mild protest @ Google Venice - a picture essay

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So, I heard there was going to be a walkout at Google facilities worldwide over sexual harassment scandals this morning. This Guadian report will fill you in:

Google walkout: global protests after sexual misconduct allegations
Thousands of employees from Tokyo to California stage demonstrations targeting workplace culture


Matthew Weaver and Alex Hern in London, Victoria Bekiempis in New York, Lauren Hepler in Mountain View and Jose Fermoso in San Francisco
1 November 2018

Thousands of Google staff across the world have staged a series of walkouts in protest at claims of sexual harassment, gender inequality and systemic racism.

Demonstrations at the company’s offices around the world began at 11.10am in Tokyo and took place at the same time in other time zones.

They follow allegations of sexual misconduct made against senior executives, which organisers say are the most high-profile examples of “thousands” of similar cases across the company.

Greater numbers appeared on the streets outside Google’s Swiss office in Zurich, and there were protests in the Israeli city of Haifa and Berlin.

Google staff also walked out of the London, Dublin and New York offices. More...

Since Google Venice is just across the parking lot from me, and I had some time before reporting to my own job at noon, I decided to wander over and see if I could catch some pictures of the protest.

I don't know if the media received a press release or what, but word on the street was that the Googlers would be walking out at 11:10AM PST time today.

They gathered and waited around the iconic binaural entrance to Venice Google. I waited with them, but nobody came out. 

Eventually, someone found that they were rallying in a courtyard on Google property. We were given no access.

It wasn't media friendly or public friendly at all. Everyone took what shots they could through the holes in an iron fence.

I got a few pictures by sticking my lens into the spaces to get a few clear shots.

There may have been a few hundred Googlers but it was hard to tell from the position all the reporters were limited to, It was also hard to hear what was being said.

After the rally broke up, most of the Googlers filed back across Hampton Ave in the back to the main facilities across the street. 

Reporters tried to engage the protesting Googlers in their few minutes on public property, but they were having none of it.

This event left me with this troubling question: Since the protesting workers at Google Venice only left Google property to cross a street to a rally on Google property, can they really call this a walkout?

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