Protests against billionaire Elon Musk’s influence in the US government under President Donald Trump have been growing, with crowds gathering outside Tesla dealerships across the US and in some European cities. This is the latest effort to challenge the vast fortune of the world’s richest man.
The demonstrators are seeking to amplify a movement targeting Tesla dealerships and vehicles in response to Musk’s leadership of the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). In this role, he has gained access to sensitive government data and taken steps to shut down entire agencies as part of his efforts to reduce government spending.
A significant portion of Musk's estimated $340 billion fortune comes from the stock he holds in Tesla, the electric vehicle company he continues to lead while collaborating with Trump.
Tesla Takedown has been organised by a group that includes disillusioned owners of the carmaker’s vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Representative Jasmine Crockett from Dallas.
Earlier protests were somewhat sporadic.But Saturday’s demonstrations mark the first attempt to surround all 277 of the carmaker’s showrooms and service centres in the US in hopes of deepening a recent decline in the company’s sales.
In front of the New York store in Manhattan, between 500 and 1,000 people gathered, demanding Musk’s resignation from the government. The protesters were gathered at the call of environmentalists from Planet Over Profit, who believe that “stopping Musk will save lives and protect our democracy.”
For Amy Neifeld, a 70-year-old American psychologist who had not taken to the streets since the anti-Vietnam War protests in the 1970s, Elon Musk is leading the United States towards fascism. “I’m Jewish and I grew up with a deep awareness of what fascism is. And it’s only gotten worse since the election” of Donald Trump, she told the AFP news agency.
In London, about two dozen protesters held signs lambasting Musk outside a Tesla dealership as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support. One of the signs displayed at the London protest showed a photo of Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute — a gesture that Musk has been accused of reprising shortly after Trump’s January 20 inauguration.
At a protest, a person dressed in a tyrannosaurus rex costume held a sign featuring an image of Musk's straight-arm gesture, with the message: “You thought the Nazis were extinct. Don’t buy a Swasticar.”
“We just want to make some noise, raise awareness, and highlight the problems we’re facing,” said Cam Whitten, an American who participated in the London protest, in an interview with The Associated Press.
Some of Musk's critics have escalated their opposition beyond protests, setting Tesla vehicles on fire and committing acts of vandalism, which U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has condemned as “domestic terrorism.” Musk expressed his disbelief over the attacks during a company meeting on March 20, urging the vandals to “stop acting psycho.”
Meanwhile, police are investigating a fire that destroyed seven Tesla vehicles in northwestern Germany early on Saturday morning. It remains unclear whether the blaze, which was put out by firefighters, was connected to the Tesla Takedown protests.
