Anti-Elon Musk protests held at Tesla dealerships

Police in Watertown, Massachusetts, are investigating an incident in which the side mirror of a pickup struck two protesters outside a Tesla service center today.

The Watertown Police Department said in a statement officers were already at the scene and assisted the two, who refused further medical treatment.

“Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported,” the department said in a statement.

It wasn’t clear if the incident was intentional or an accident. Police said they have identified the pickup’s driver.

The department asked that anyone with information on the incident to speak to investigators.

A crowd of more than 150 people protested for about two hours, blocking sidewalks, holding signs and chanting outside of the Tesla showroom in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood Saturday afternoon.

The business remained open and at least 10 people walked inside the doors, which were guarded by multiple Chicago police officers, during the protest.

“We’re encouraging people to boycott Tesla and to hurt him [Elon Musk] so that he stops hurting us,” said Joe Allen, 63, who says he has been demonstrating every Saturday for several weeks, adding that this is the biggest turnout he’s seen so far.

“We want to decrease his stock price, encourage people to sell the stock, and encourage people not to buy his cars,” said Steva Stowell-Hardcastle, a 61-year-old Chicago resident. “Because Elon Musk is an unelected fascist that has joined Trump in trying to dismantle our government.”

One man who appeared to support Musk approached the crowd giving a thumbs up to the dealership, while police officers hovered near him. A member of the crowd shouted “you’re outnumbered.”

A white Tesla drove in front of the crowd prompting some in the crowd to chant, “Sell your car!”

Later a Cybertruck rolled in front of the protest, with the windows down and people inside it pumping their fists, which drew boos from the crowd.

Several counterprotesters could be observed at the event in Austin, Texas.

About two dozen protesters held signs lambasting Musk outside a Tesla dealership in London 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 Jan. 20 inauguration. A person in a tyrannosaurus rex costume held another sign with a picture of Musk’s straight-arm gesture that said, “You thought the Nazis were extinct. Don’t buy a Swasticar.”

“We just want to get loud, make noise, make people aware of the problems that we’re facing,” said Cam Whitten, an American who showed up at the London protest.

Protesters have railed against Tesla and Elon Musk across the country today in largely peaceful protests.

A federal judge last month denied an effort by 14 states to immediately block Elon Musk and his advisory Department of Government Efficiency from accessing data systems or making personnel decisions at seven federal agencies.

The suit, filed by Democratic attorneys general from states like Arizona, Michigan and Rhode Island, takes aim at the magnitude and scale of Musk’s power, noting that DOGE has led the Trump administration’s efforts to dramatically reduce the size of the federal workforce, dismantle entire agencies and access sensitive data.

Read the full story here.

A group of counterprotesters carrying American flags and DOGE banners gathered at a Tesla dealership in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

A video posted to X showed a truck with an American flag and a “Trump 2024” banner drive by the protesters.

Demonstrators showed up at Tesla centers in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Berlin, Germany, today.

A federal judge ordered the government to reinstate U.S. Agency for International Development systems earlier this month, ruling that the accelerated shutdown of the agency led by Elon Musk “likely violated the United States Constitution in multiple ways.”

U.S. District Judge Theodore D. Chuang ordered Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to reinstate access to email, payment, security notification and other electronic systems for all USAID employees and contractors. He also ordered the department to provide written confirmation of compliance to the court within seven days.

Read the full story here.

Around 500 people gathered at the Tesla Service Center in Rockville, Maryland.

One protester, Amy Thompson, said she was there to protest Elon Musk’s role in the federal government, adding that his actions cutting federal workers are “to get rich, not help the American people.”

Thompson said the departments Musk has targeted “are the ones that would regulate his companies with the federal government, and it’s a conflict of interest.”

Beverly Steward, who said she lost her job as a contractor with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said she knows people who are now unable to afford their homes due to cuts.

“And you know, what are people supposed to do?” Steward asked. “Are we going to get to a society where the majority of the people are homeless with no food to eat? I mean, what do we stand for if we don’t stand for freedom and democracy?”

Protesters clashed with counterprotesters during the gathering.

Counterprotester Julia Davis said she supports Musk because Tesla is an American business that employs Americans and helps them put food on the table.

Davis also spoke in support of the federal government, calling it “the largest employer in this country.”

The protest in New York was spearheaded by several groups, including ACT UP New York. The group’s objective is to end AIDS and was founded in the late 1980s, during the height of AIDS crisis.

Brandon Quicchi, 48, an organizer with the group, said it was at the event to protest DOGE’s cuts to foreign aid to combat HIV and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent downsizing of its HIV prevention division.

“It’s important that we stay engaged and stay involved, and that we the people can stop these cuts from happening,” he said. “People should be turning out to their Tesla showrooms, they should boycotting everything Elon Musk does, because it has a chance of saving millions of lives around the world.”

In Ann Arbor, Michigan, hundreds of protesters gathered at a Tesla dealership to protest Musk.

Sped up video posted to X showed protesters carrying signs as they marched in front of the Tesla dealership. One sign read “MUSK WAS NOT ELECTED,” while another read “FELON.”

A cardboard sign taped to the dealership’s exterior read “DON’T BUY SWASTICAR.”

Some were there to protest against cuts Musk made to the federal workforce.

“I’ll BE Another Homeless Senior If Social Security is taken AWAY!” one sign read. Another read, “NO CUTS to VETS!”

As the New York protest approaches its end time of 2 p.m. ET, protesters have begun chanting: “We’ll be back!”

At least 100 people showed up to protest outside the Tesla dealership in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. Protesters held handmade signs, with slogans that included: “Don’t buy Nazi cars,” “Tesla takedown-Chicago” and “Nobody elected Elon.”

Several cars passing through the neighborhood honked in support of the protesters, drawing cheers and the sound of cowbells. The crowd at one point started chanting, “Fascists, KKK, Elon Musk are all the same,” and later chanted, “hey hey, ho ho, Elon Musk has got to go.”

At least eight Chicago police cars and a dozen officers are stationed in the blocks surrounding the dealership. So far they have not interacted much with protesters besides observing the gathering.

In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, Musk blamed the “far left” for the vandalism happening at dealerships across the country, calling them “the real villains here.”

Attacks on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and charging stations have begun in recent weeks, coinciding with growing tensions over Musk’s attempts to drastically cut the federal workforce. Hundreds of protests are planned at Tesla facilities today by people who believe Musk’s actions are a threat to democracy.

“What’s happening, it seems to me, is, they’re being fed propaganda by the far left, and they believe it,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate.”

Musk said what he views as propaganda is inciting others to carry out acts of vandalism, including “firebombing” and shooting guns into Tesla dealerships.

“And the president’s made it clear, we’re going to go after them,” Musk said. “The ones providing the money, the ones pushing the lies and propaganda, we’re going after them.”

Musk said people responsible for “pushing these lies” need to be held responsible because “those lies almost got the president killed,” referring to assassination attempts made against Donald Trump during the campaign last year.

Turnout for the protest in Tucson has drawn a significant crowd as lines of protesters carrying signs can be seen on social media posts.

Two masked protesters were wearing what appeared to be cardboard silver Cybertrucks in flames. In recent weeks, vandals across the U.S. have thrown Molotov cocktails at Tesla vehicles, setting some of them on fire.

New York state Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal and New York state Assemblyman Micah Lasher — whose districts include parts of Manhattan — addressed the crowd of protesters in the Meatpacking District, saying they plan on introducing legislation next week to investigate the terms of a state-owned factory in Buffalo, New York, that Tesla is leasing.

The plant was part of a $1 billion project launched by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2012 to invest in Buffalo’s economy.

Lasher said the legislation will call for an “immediate examination” to determine if Tesla is creating jobs, paying its rent and “making the investments in the state of New York that they’re obligated to.”

“And if they aren’t, this contract will be canceled and Elon Musk will be evicted,” Lasher said.

Many New Yorkers passing the rally appear to be watching in awe, with some even joining in with the chanting.

A Mack truck passing through a nearby street blared its horn in apparent solidarity.

A passing mother was overheard explaining the protest to her children and comparing the modern U.S. government to Nazi Germany.

Within the last 10 minutes the crowd of demonstrators outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District has swelled to hundreds.

Protesters are holding up their fists with many carrying an array of placards. Some of the signs read: “Burn a Tesla, save Democracy,” “America is not for sale,” and “Nobody voted for Musk!” 

J.F. Garcia, a retiree from New Jersey, was among the dozens protesting in front of the Tesla dealership in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

“We have a crazy person who’s blowing through our democratic processes with no qualifications, he was not elected, he has no idea what he’s doing,” she said. “I think his phrase is move fast and break things? That’s not how you bring about positive change.”

Garcia, driven by fear, explained, “I’m frightened — not for me, I’m old — but people your age and younger. We are living on the edge of an oligarchy, a dictatorship. If we don’t say something about it, we’re doomed.”

At least seven NYPD vans were parked around the block of a Tesla dealership in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District ahead of a scheduled protest. Several protesters were apprehended at a similar demonstration at the dealership earlier this month.

Several dozen protesters gathered outside a Tesla dealership today, picketing and chanting: “Hey, hey, ho, ho! Elon Musk has got to go!”

As Elon Musk wraps up his second month in the White House, Tesla owners are trading in their electric vehicles at record levels, according to an analysis by national car shopping site Edmunds.

The data from Edmunds published on Thursday said that March represented “the highest ever share” it had seen for Tesla trade-ins toward new or used cars from dealerships selling other brands.

Read the full story here.

The plan for a day of mass demonstrations follows a series of violent incidents. Anti-Musk activists have been accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at Tesla facilities in Colorado, Nevada and Oregon and defacing Tesla vehicles there, and on Monday, authorities said they found multiple “incendiary devices” at a Tesla location in Texas.

And last weekend, two pro-Musk men were arrested in separate incidents at Tesla showrooms: one for taking out a stun gun at a protest in California and one for driving toward protesters in Florida.

Tesla has become a lightning rod for violent attacks and vandalism in the months since CEO Elon Musk joined the Trump administration. Now, people who disagree with Musk’s role in politics are hoping to channel their emotions into something peaceful: a day of mass nonviolent protests at Tesla locations nationwide.

More than 200 protests are scheduled to take place Saturday during what organizers are calling a global day of action, part of a campaign called “Tesla Takedown.” The organizers are hoping to damage Musk’s political standing by hurting the sales and stock price of the electric-car maker, the foundation of Musk’s wealth. They’ve set a goal of 500 demonstrations worldwide, although it’s unclear if they’ll meet that.

Similar demonstrations have taken place around the world since early February, shortly after Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, began their aggressive campaign to dismantle parts of the federal government. But organizers say they expect Saturday’s events to be the biggest so far and draw thousands of people in total to Tesla showrooms, repair shops and charging stations.

Read the full story here.