More than 60 protests were planned for Saturday, and a dozen more for Sunday, at Tesla showrooms across the United States.
More than 60 protests were planned for Saturday, and a dozen more for Sunday, at Tesla showrooms across the United States, as backlash continues against CEO Elon Musk for his cost-cutting role at the Department of Government Efficiency.
Just a week after more than 200 demonstrations took place at Tesla locations as part of the grassroots “Tesla Takedown” movement, some locations doubled up on Saturday as “Hands Off!” rally locations — a separately organized mass day of protests nationwide.
The Tesla Takedown campaign encourages Tesla drivers to sell their vehicles and company stakeholders to sell their shares of stock to hurt the world’s richest man, whose wealth is mostly tied to the electric vehicle maker.
Over 50 demonstrators stood outside of a Tesla showroom in Rockville, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, DC, on Saturday.
Susan Barnett, a media professional from New York City, said she came to Maryland for a reunion with two longtime friends and to do advocacy work for safe water and foreign government assistance.
“Congress has to remember that despite what the White House is saying, we do have a stake in the world,” Barnett told CNN.
DOGE has made cuts to a broad swath of federal agencies by slashing contracts and laying off employees or offering them buyouts to leave their roles. The DOGE website claims it has saved taxpayers $140 billion. (CNN could not confirm the accuracy of DOGE’s figure.)
Musk recently claimed that protesters at Tesla locations are being paid, posting last week on his social media platform X, “Who is funding and organizing all of these paid protests?”
Tesla has not responded to CNN’s request for comment.
