To Combat 'Illegal Coup' by Elon Musk, Tesla Showroom Protests Planned Worldwide

Outraged by Elon Musk's devastating contributions to the Trump administration, people around the world continue to target the billionaire CEO's electric vehicle company, planning "Tesla Takedown" protests at over 200 locations for Saturday, March 29.

"Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he's using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it," organizers wrote on Action Network, which has an interactive map of the protest sites. "We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk's illegal coup."

Organizers also have a message for people with ties to the company: "Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines."

Frustration over Musk's effort to gut the U.S. government has impacted the company's value. Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz—who ran for vice president last November—told a crowd at a recent political event that he added Tesla to his smartphone's stock application "to give me a little boost during the day," and urged EV owners to remove the logo with dental floss.

Since Musk began dismantling the federal bureaucracy as chief of President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, critics have protested at Tesla facilities and posted videos on social media about selling their vehicles.

As CNN reported last week, "Despite the record low prices for a Tesla on the used market and a prominent advertisement by the president of the United States, the cars have been having a tough time finding buyers, according to a March survey from Cars.com."

Earlier this month, Trump held a Tesla sales event at the White House, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick encouraged Fox News viewers to buy stock in the company, triggering an ethics complaint against him. The president and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi have also described people who have vandalized Tesla property as "terrorists." On Monday, federal law enforcement agencies launched a task force "to coordinate investigative activity and crack down on violent Tesla attacks."

Organizers of the Saturday demonstrations stressed that "Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism, and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly."

In addition to protests planned across North America and Europe, actions are also coordinated Australia and New Zealand. Supporters are sharing updates about the global day of action on social media—including Musk-owned X—with the hashtags #TeslaTakedown and #BoycottTesla.

"Nobody voted for this, and nobody voted for Elon," Vickie Mueller Olvera, who has been organizing Tesla Takedown protests in the Bay Area, told The Guardian. "He's an unelected superbillionaire and he's a thug."

"I see Elon Musk as hijacking our government, and he's just dismantling everything that we hold dear," Olvera added. "Everything that people have fought long and hard for, like social security, Medicare and Medicaid and our beautiful national parks... it just feels like the rug is getting pulled out from under us."