Protests against Elon Musk's purge of US government swarm Tesla
showrooms
[March 31, 2025] By
MICHAEL LIEDTKE
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Protesters against billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of
the U.S. government under President Donald Trump demonstrated outside
Tesla dealerships throughout the U.S. and in some cities in Europe on
Saturday in the latest attempt to dent the fortune of the world’s
richest man.
The protesters were trying to escalate a movement targeting Tesla
dealerships and vehicles in opposition to Musk’s role as the head of the
newly created Department of of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, where he
has gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he
attempts to slash government spending. The biggest portion of Musk’s
estimated $340 billion fortune consists of his stock in the electric
vehicle company, which continues to run while also working alongside
Trump.
After earlier demonstrations that were somewhat sporadic, Saturday
marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of the automaker’s
showrooms and service centers in the U.S. in hopes of deepening a recent
decline in the company’s sales.
By early afternoon crowds ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of
protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the automaker's home
state of Texas. Pictures posted on social media showed protesters
brandishing signs such as “ Honk if you hate Elon ” and “ Fight the
billionaire broligarchy.”
As the day progressed, the protests cascaded around the country outside
Tesla locations in major cities such as Washington, Chicago,
Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Seattle, as well as towns in Virginia,
Pennsylvania and Colorado. Smaller groups of counterprotesters also
showed up at some sites.
“Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go!” several dozen people
chanted outside a showroom in Dublin, California, about 35 miles (60
miles) east of San Francisco, while a smaller cluster of Trump
supporters waved American flags across the street.
A much larger crowd circled another showroom in nearby Berkeley,
chanting slogans to the beat of drums.
“We're living in a fascist state,” said Dennis Fagaly, a retired high
school teacher from neighboring Oakland, “and we need to stop this or
we'll lose our whole country and everything that is good about the
United States.”
Anti-Musk sentiment extends beyond the U.S.
The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protesters at more than
230 locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in
Europe were not as large, the anti-Musk sentiment was similar.
About two dozen people held signs lambasting the billionaire outside a
dealership in London as passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support.
One sign displayed depicted 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.
Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included
disillusioned owners of the automaker’s vehicles, celebrities such as
actor John Cusack, and at least one Democratic Party lawmaker, Rep.
Jasmine Crockett from Dallas.
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Protesters rally against Tesla CEO Elon Musk outside a Tesla store
in San Francisco on Saturday, March 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)
 “I’m going to keep screaming in the
halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep
screaming in the streets,” Crockett said during an organizing call
this month.
Another Democratic lawmaker, Rep. Pramila Jaypal, showed up at a
protest in Seattle, which she represents in Congress.
Musk backlash has included some vandalism
Some people have gone beyond protest, setting Tesla vehicles on fire
or committing other acts of vandalism that U.S. Attorney General Pam
Bondi has decried as domestic terrorism. In a March 20 company
meeting, Musk indicated that he was dumbfounded by the attacks and
said the vandals should “stop acting psycho.”
Crockett and other Tesla Takedown supporters have been stressing the
importance of Saturday’s protests remaining peaceful.
But police were investigating a fire that destroyed seven Teslas in
northwestern Germany in the early morning. It was not immediately
clear if the blaze, which was extinguished by firefighters, was
related to the protests.
In Watertown, Massachusetts, local police reported that the side
mirror of a black pickup struck two people at a protest outside a
Tesla service center, according to the Boston Herald. The suspect
was promptly identified by police at the scene, who said there were
no serious injuries.
Musk maintains that the company's future remains bright
A growing number of consumers who bought Tesla vehicles before Musk
took over DOGE have been looking to sell or trade them in, while
others have slapped on bumper stickers seeking to distance
themselves from him.
But Musk did not appear concerned about an extended slump in new
sales in the March meeting, during which he reassured the workers
that the company’s Model Y would remain “the best-selling car on
Earth again this year.” He also predicted that Tesla will have sold
more than 10 million cars worldwide by next year, up from about 7
million currently.
“There are times when there are rocky moments, where there is stormy
weather, but what I am here to tell you is that the future is
incredibly bright and exciting,” Musk said.
After Trump was elected last November, investors initially saw
Musk’s alliance with the president as a positive development for
Tesla and its long-running efforts to launch a network of
self-driving cars.
That optimism helped lift Tesla’s stock by 70% between the election
and Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration, creating an additional $560
billion in shareholder wealth. But virtually all those gains have
evaporated amid investor worries about the backlash, lagging sales
in the U.S., Europe and China, and Musk spending time overseeing
DOGE.
“This continues to be a moment of truth for Musk to navigate this
brand tornado crisis moment and get onto the other side of this dark
chapter for Tesla,” Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said in a
recent research note.
___
Associated Press writers Terry Chea in Berkeley, California,
Mustakim Hasnath in London and Stefanie Dazio in Germany
contributed.
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