'He's destroying democracy': Anti-Musk 'Tesla Takedown' protests in US, Europe

Protesters gathered outside Tesla showrooms and service centres in the US to protest Tesla CEO Elon Musk's 'purge' of the Donald Trump-led US government as head of its Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Tesla Takedown movement also hoped to rally protesters at more than 230 locations in other parts of the world. (AP)

Saturday's protest marked the first attempt to surround all 277 of Tesla’s showrooms and service centres in the United States. While the turnouts in Europe were not as large, the anti-Musk sentiment was similar. (AP)

By early afternoon, several hundreds of protesters had flocked to Tesla locations in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Maryland, Minnesota and the company's home state of Texas. Later, there were protests outside Tesla locations in major cities such as Washington, Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Seattle as well. (AP)

Outside a Tesla showroom in Dublin, California, east of San Francisco, people chanted, “Hey, hey, ho, ho, Elon Musk has got to go!” A small cluster of Trump supporters waved American flags across the street. (AP)

“We're living in a fascist state,” said Dennis Fagaly, a retired high school teacher from Oakland.

"We need to stop this or we'll lose our whole country and everything that is good about the United States," he added.

In London, around two dozen people held signs lambasting the billionaire outside a dealership in the UK's capital. Passing cars and trucks tooted horns in support. (AP)

One sign displayed depicted Musk next to an image of Adolf Hitler making the Nazi salute — a gesture the biliionaire has been accused of reprising shortly after Trump's January 20 inauguration. (AP)

At the London protest, 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.” (AP)

Tesla Takedown was organized by a group of supporters that included disillusioned owners of the automaker’s vehicles, celebrities such as actor John Cusack, and at least one Democrat lawmaker, Rep. Jasmine Crockett from Dallas. (AP)

“I’m going to keep screaming in the halls of Congress. I just need you all to make sure you all keep screaming in the streets,” Rep. Crockett said during an organizing call this month.

In some cases, people have gone beyond protest, setting Tesla vehicles on fire or committing other acts of vandalism that US attorney general Pam Bondi has decried as "domestic terrorism." (AP)