Graffiti on a Tesla dealership sign. Molotov cocktails thrown in another dealership’s lot. Tesla charging stations set on fire. Across the country, the electric vehicle company’s facilities and vehicles are being hit with protests and violence over Elon Musk’s role in the Trump administration.
A wave of anti-Tesla protests and attacks have occurred as Musk, Tesla’s CEO, takes a leading role in President Trump’s cost-cutting task force, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The agency has cut thousands of jobs since its inception in January.
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
In recent days, there have been a number of peaceful “Tesla Takedown” protests across the U.S., but there have also been several violent incidents that led to arrests.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Tesla-related attacks happening across the country.
Reports of Tesla-involved violence and vandalism
Jan. 29 – Feb. 11: Police in northern Colorado arrested Lucy Grace Nelson after the 42-year-old allegedly caused between $5,000 and $20,000 in damage to a Tesla dealership starting on Jan. 29 and later returned several more times in February. According to police, Nelson vandalized the Tesla dealership by spray-painting “Nazi” under the dealership’s entrance sign and started small fires on the lot by igniting molotov cocktails inside vodka bottles. Nelson was charged with malicious destruction of property and remains in custody.
March 3: In Maryland, graffiti was found at a Tesla dealership a day after demonstrators gathered to protest Musk. The graffiti said “No Musk” with a sign that resembles a swastika.
March 4: Police in Massachusetts reported seven Tesla charging stations that were intentionally set on fire.
March 6: A 39-year-old man was accused of vandalizing several Tesla vehicles with stickers of Musk in the Boston suburb of Brookline, calling it “free speech.” Harrison Grant Randall was charged with six counts of defacing property. A pre-trial hearing for Randall is scheduled for May, according to CBS News Boston. It’s unclear if he has entered a plea.
March 6: Police in Portland, Oregon, said that at least seven shots were fired at a Tesla dealership on Thursday, damaging three cars and shattering windows, according to CBS affiliate KOIN.
March 7: At the same Tesla dealership allegedly vandalized by Nelson, northern Colorado police reported an arson at the Loveland Tesla dealership.
March 8: Over 350 protesters gathered in New York City at a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the nationwide “Tesla Takedown” protests. Six arrests were made, five for disorderly conduct and one for resisting arrest, obstructing government administration and a violation for a local law.
Why are people protesting Tesla?
After Mr. Trump was sworn into office in January, Musk took on a role leading Mr. Trump’s cost-cutting task force, DOGE, which has cut over 62,000 federal jobs. More federal cuts are on the way, with the Veterans Affairs Department planning to cut thousands of jobs in the coming months.
Musk also made inflammatory public statements in January, ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day, when he told thousands at a far-right German political party that “children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great-grandparents.”
Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images
What has Musk said about the protests?
Musk has not spoken out about the rise in protests overall, but in response to a video of a man vandalizing Teslas, posted by authorities in Massachusetts, Musk replied: “Damaging the property of others, aka vandalism, is not free speech!”
