- Across the country, protests against Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s work in the federal government with DOGE have been turning violent. In several instances, demonstrators have graffitied property and burned down Tesla charging stations. Over the weekend, a protest outside a Tesla showroom in New York City resulted in six arrests.
Demonstrators across the country are attacking Tesla dealerships to protest its CEO Elon Musk’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s new administration.
Musk has been in charge of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with cutting costs across the federal government. The demonstrations were part of a campaign dubbed “Tesla Takedown.” On several occasions, the protests turned violent and led to arrests.
People were arrested for vandalizing dealerships with graffiti, lighting molotov cocktails in their parking lots, and intentionally setting fire to several Tesla charging stations. The protests and arrests began in January shortly after the inauguration. The most recent incident was on March 8 in New York City, where six protestors were arrested at a Tesla showroom in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Five were arrested for disorderly conduct and one for resisting arrest.
Elsewhere in New York a TikToker posted a video of nine police officers surrounding a Tesla Cybertruck to protect the vehicle during an International Women’s Day march in New York, with the caption “love seeing my tax dollars at work!”
In Chicago, police officers were photographed protecting at least one Tesla dealership over fears it could also be attacked by protestors.
Musk’s cost-cutting efforts in the government have been met with significant pushback from Democratic lawmakers. So far, DOGE has laid off countless federal workers and shuttered entire divisions of the government. When DOGE cut funding to USAID, the international aid organization, it sparked outrage among Democrats and liberal pundits.
Much of the discontent about Musk’s handling of DOGE and his outsize role in governmental decision-making is animating much of the protests. Some of Musk’s behavior also drew the ire of members of Trump’s cabinet. Last week, there were reports of a particularly tense meeting between Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy over staffing cuts in their respective departments. In total, DOGE has laid off about 62,000 federal employees. Further cuts are expected to hit the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Some of the earliest arrests for attacking Tesla dealerships took place in January when 42-year-old Lucy Grace Nelson was arrested for allegedly spray-painting the word “Nazi” on a Tesla sign at a dealership in Loveland, Colo. Nelson had allegedly attacked the Tesla dealership numerous times.
This month, several incidents occurred in Boston. A 39-year-old Boston-area man, Harrison Grant Randall, was arrested for putting stickers of Musk on Tesla cars in the tiny suburb of Brookline. Harrison was charged with six counts of defacing property. He said it was “free speech” for him to place the stickers on the Teslas, a likely reference to Musk having described himself as a “free speech absolutist.”
“I’m just really shocked and confused,” said Adam Choi, who saw Harrison putting the stickers on the cars. “You can tell me your opinions but don’t vandalize my car.”
Elsewhere in Massachusetts, seven Tesla charging stations in a shopping center parking lot in Littleton were intentionally set on fire, according to local police. After the fire, all that was left were the charred remains of the stations, which had gone ablaze.
Last week, employees at a dealership in Oregon clocked in to find someone had fired gunshots at cars and windows in the showroom. No one was injured and police are investigating, according to local CBS affiliate KOIN.