‘TeslaTakeover’ protests are small, but numerous

Feb 16, 2025 06:20 AM - 1 month ago 48534

Today marked a second play of scattered protests astatine Tesla showrooms, pursuing a “TeslaTakeover” hashtag that has been trending connected Twitter replacement Bluesky this week. Protestors’ messages mostly focused connected the divisive efforts of Tesla CEO Elon Musk arsenic the caput of the Department of Government Efficiency since the commencement of Donald Trump’s Presidency.

The protests don’t look to beryllium particularly large, but they are numerous, ranging from places for illustration New York to lesser-known locales for illustration Minneapolis, Minnesota suburb Golden Valley. A section of Action Network’s site for organizing protests shows rallies planned for cities successful Ohio, Florida, Washington, New Mexico, and Alberta, Canada.

Tesla investors have expressed concern that Musk’s activities are negatively impacting the company, which saw its banal value plummet by 21 percent since Trump’s inauguration according to an ABC story this week. Inside the company, labor and elder unit said successful a caller gathering that “the institution would beryllium amended disconnected if Musk resigned,” The Washington Post reported.

One of the larger rallies coming was extracurricular of Tesla’s Manhattan showroom, wherever a erstwhile protestation took spot connected February 9th. In the videos below, group tin beryllium heard chanting, “Don’t bargain swasticars” and “Elon Musk tin spell to Mars; we don’t request your Nazi cars,” possibly referencing Musk’s support for far-right groups like Germany’s AfD party aliases his suspicious salute connected Inauguration Day.

Other posts showed what protests looked for illustration coming successful Berkeley, California:

San Francisco, California:

Minneapolis, Minnesota:

And Kansas City, Missouri:

Similar gatherings occurred successful Austin, Texas; Seattle, Washington; and Boston, Massachusetts. Meanwhile, fewer look to person shown up coming successful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania:

Or Baltimore, Maryland, wherever a azygous personification held a motion extracurricular a Tesla showroom:

Actor, director, and progressive activistic Alex Winter, who heavy promoted this weekend’s protests complete the past fewer days, posted an image of himself holding a motion urging group to waste their Teslas astatine a protestation successful Pasadena, California:

Winter re-shared posts from protests astatine Tesla showrooms successful the California cities Corte Madera, San Jose, and Los Angeles, on pinch others from group who’d posted astir rallies successful Rockville, Maryland; Tucscon, Arizona; and Golden Valley, Minnesota.

There are galore posts connected Bluesky pinch the #TeslaTakeover hashtag, but acold less show up erstwhile searching X, Instagram, aliases Threads. Outside of picketing, others protested Musk successful different ways. Musician Sheryl Crow posted a video of a Tesla being driven distant connected a flatbed truck, on pinch a connection saying “There comes a clip erstwhile you person to determine who you are consenting to align with. So agelong Tesla,” and noting that she had donated the money to NPR, which is presently threatened by an FCC investigation into nationalist media.

More protests are expected, including during the President’s Day vacation connected Monday, pinch one group for Lowell, Maine and astatine slightest one different successful Richmond, Virginia. Those are successful summation to galore demonstrations planned this play that don’t target Tesla showrooms but still subordinate to the actions of Musk, DOGE, and President Trump much broadly.

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