‘Tesla Takedown’ protesters swarm showrooms in response to Elon Musk’s DOGE role

The Tesla Takedown movement hoped to rally protestors at 277 of the automaker’s showrooms in the U.S., as well as over 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world.

Crowds protesting billionaire Elon Musk’s purge of the U.S. government under U.S. President Donald Trump began amassing 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 are 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’s gained access to sensitive data and shuttered entire agencies as he attempts to slash government spending. Most of Musk’s estimated $340 billion fortune consists of the stock he holds in the electric vehicle company that he continues to run while also working alongside Trump.

Earlier protests have been 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 accounts showed protesters brandishing signs such as “Honk if you hate Elon” and “Fight the billionaire broligarchy.”

The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protestors at more than 230 Tesla locations in other parts of the world. Although the turnouts in Europe weren’t as large as the crowds in the U.S., the anti-Musk sentiment was similar.

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.