Nine individuals were taken into custody during a chaotic protest outside a Tesla dealership in New York City on Saturday. Demonstrators gathered to oppose Tesla owner Elon Musk’s involvement in extensive federal workforce reductions, carried out at the direction of President Donald Trump.
According to police reports, the demonstration drew hundreds of participants and was part of a larger wave of “Tesla Takedown” protests occurring nationwide. Protesters targeted Musk, who is leading the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), with similar demonstrations outside Tesla showrooms in Jacksonville, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; and other locations. Participants obstructed traffic while chanting and holding signs that read, “Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy” and “No Dictators in the USA.”
Musk, currently the world’s wealthiest individual, has been at the forefront of a drastic effort to downsize the federal government, resulting in the dismissal of thousands of employees and the termination of numerous aid contracts and federal leases. Neither Tesla nor a White House spokesperson responded to requests for comment by phone or email on Saturday night.
Some federal agencies have scrambled to rehire key personnel, including experts managing America’s nuclear arsenal, scientists combating an escalating bird flu outbreak, and officials responsible for maintaining the nation’s power supply.
Since Trump assumed office on January 20, at least 100,000 of the government’s 2.3 million employees have either been laid off or accepted buyout packages.
“We are taking action at Tesla, Musk’s flagship company,” event organizers stated on the website actionnetwork.org, urging the public to sell off Tesla stock and “join the picket lines.”
“Detaching Musk from Tesla would be a meaningful blow against this administration and its prerogatives because it would be a strike against what they hold most dear: money and power,” actor and filmmaker Alex Winter wrote in Rolling Stone. Winter, who has publicly stated that he played a role in organizing the protests, shared his views on social media.
