WATCH: NYPD Officers Arrest Protesters Shouting ‘F**k Elon Musk!’ as Violence Ramps Up at Multiple Tesla Locations
Screenshot via @pop4climate on X
A Tesla showroom in New York was occupied by anti-Elon Musk protesters on Saturday as demonstrations against the company are ramping up.
A group of protesters were detained by police on Saturday afternoon after they illegally occupied Tesla’s showroom in New York. Video posted to social media shows the demonstrators being escorted out by police.
“Fuck Elon Musk,” one of those arrested shouted while being taken away in handcuffs.
Protesters gathered around chanted, “Elon Musk is not elected” and “stop the coup,” among other things. The Manhattan showroom shut down due to the protests and a broken glass door can be seen in the captured footage.
Tesla facilities and charging stations have been targeted more frequently as Musk has focused much of his energy on DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) and his work with President Donald Trump’s administration.
One demonstrator identified themselves as Frankie and said, “I’m getting arrested protesting Elon Musk. He bought his way into power. He bought his way into heading a government agency. He bought his power at the expense of the American people, at the expense of our environment, at the expense of our world and all of the people in it.
On Saturday morning, Musk suggested that violent protests targeting numerous Tesla locations are an organized effort by the political action committee ActBlue.
“An investigation has found 5 ActBlue-funded groups responsible for Tesla “protests”: Troublemakers, Disruption Project, Rise & Resist, Indivisible Project and Democratic Socialists of America,” he wrote. “ActBlue funders include George Soros, Reid Hoffman, Herbert Sandler, Patricia Bauman, and Leah Hunt-Hendrix. ActBlue is currently under investigation for allowing foreign and illegal donations in criminal violation of campaign finance regulations. This week, 7 ActBlue senior officials resigned, including the associate general counsel. If you know anything about this, please post in replies. Thanks, Elon.”
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Tesla facilities around the country have faced more than a dozen acts of violence since Trump’s inauguration.
From The Post:
Since President Donald Trump’s inauguration, more than a dozen violent or destructive acts have been directed at Tesla facilities, according to court documents, surveillance photographs, police records and local media reports reviewed by The Washington Post. The incidents come as Elon Musk has rocketed to prominence as Trump’s best-known backer and as a conservative provocateur in his own right. The ire directed at the tech billionaire online has increasingly spilled into real life, with vandalism directed at Tesla storefronts, charging stations and vehicles.
These destructive acts have included a man allegedly targeting an Oregon dealership with Molotov cocktails, thousands being caused in damage from an overnight shooting in Oregon’s Tigard, charging stations being set ablaze in Littleton, Massachusetts, “no Musk” and a “swastika-like symbol” being spray painted on a Maryland facility, and more.
