Demonstrators gathered outside stores of Tesla across the US on Saturday to protest the moves made by its CEO under orders of the Donald Trump administration.
According to reports, nine people were arrested in New York after they took over a Tesla store to protest the layoffs under their growing movement of “Tesla Takedown”.
The protests are part of a rising backlash in North America and Europe to Musk’s role in laying off workers of the government.
Tesla’s share price has fallen by nearly a third since Trump took office, though it’s still higher than it was a year ago. Musk’s current net worth is an estimated $359 billion, according to Forbes, which calculated his 2024 net worth as $195 billion. He still remains the richest person in the world.
Musk, on the order of US President Donald Trump to cut federal spending and sharply reduce the workforce, has said that the Republican victory in the country has given them the mandate to restructure the federal system.
Tesla Takedown movement
The Tesla Takedown movement across the US has emerged as one of the first resistances of anti-Musk and anti-Trump citizens at the grassroots level, who hope to discourage and stigmatise purchases of Tesla.
Over the past few weeks, protesters have organised movement against the the world’s most valuable automaker.
“We can get back at Elon,” 58-year-old ecologist Nathan Philips was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
“We can impose direct economic damage on Tesla by showing up at showrooms everywhere and boycotting Tesla and telling everyone else to get out, sell your stocks, sell your Teslas,” he told the newspaper.
The Tesla Takedown movement aims to discourage potential buyers from purchasing cars of the company, something its organisers say will come as an economic damage to Musk.
Some Tesla owners have also reported their vehicles vandalized with spray painted swastikas amid what Jewish groups and observers fear is a rise in antisemitism, as per AP.
(With inputs from agencies)
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