New York (AFP) – Demonstrators descended on Tesla dealerships across the United States and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top advisor to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages like “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Teslas in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as “terrorism.”
Hundreds rallied Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in New York’s Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is dramatically slashing the federal government. Amy Neifeld, a 70-year-old psychologist who had not joined a protest since marching against the Vietnam War in the 1970s, accused Musk of leading the country toward fascism. “I’m Jewish, so I grew up with a great awareness of fascism,” she told AFP. “And it has just gotten uglier and uglier” since Trump returned to the White House.
“He acts like he’s the vice president,” said New York protester Eva Mueller of Musk. “He’s dismantling, actively, our government, he’s dismantling our democracy.” The protest was organized by the environmental activist group Planet Over Profit, which argues “stopping Musk will help save lives and protect our democracy.” In Washington’s posh Georgetown neighborhood, some 150 people gathered in a festive mood on an unseasonably warm day, dancing and cheering as passing cars honked. Protests also took place in Florida, Massachusetts and California, as well as in European cities such as London, Berlin and Paris.
In Canada’s Vancouver, where around one hundred people protested at a Tesla dealership, one person in a dinosaur costume held a placard that said, “You thought the Nazis were extinct? Don’t buy a Swasticar.” A small group of Americans held signs outside a Tesla dealership in the French capital, including one that read “Send Musk to Mars now.” Musk and Trump “are destroying our democracy, not obeying the basic rules of our country, and firing people at agencies that do very important work,” said Raf, 59, a Paris protester who did not wish to give his last name.
Asked for reaction to the protests, Tesla did not immediately respond. Acts of vandalism against Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities have spread for weeks, in protest both against Musk’s ruthless job-cutting work, and what has been seen as his unwelcome interference in politics. US Attorney General Pam Bondi has denounced the attacks on Tesla as “domestic terrorism.”
© 2024 AFP
