'Tesla Takedown' marks weekend of anti-Elon Musk protests

Rick Hurd, The Mercury News on Mar 28, 2025

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Hundreds of protests against Elon Musk and his role in President Donald Trump’s administration were expected to take place Friday and Saturday in the Bay Area and across the globe.

Organizers who are part of a campaign called the “Tesla Takedown” said they are hoping to spur people into non-violent action against Musk to voice their discontent with Musk’s actions as the head of the Department of Government Efficiency. In his role, Musk has led an aggressive campaign to dismantle parts of the federal government.

Protesters are calling it a “global day of action.”

“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he’s built at Tesla to do it,” the group wrote on a web site. “We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup.”

Protests on Friday in the Bay Area will be held at 4 p.m. at the Burnett Avenue overpass in Morgan Hill; at 4:30 p.m. at El Camino Real and Jefferson Avenue in Redwood City and an undisclosed location in Castro Valley; and at 5 p.m. at College and Ashby avenues in Berkeley, San Pablo Dam Road and Appian Way in El Sobrante, and 3200 Grand Ave. in Oakland.

More protests Saturday are slated for 10 a.m. in Santa Clara (Stevens Creek and Winchester boulevards) and Corte Madera (201 Casa Buena Dr.); at 11 a.m. in Vallejo (1001 Admiral Callaghan Lane); and Santa Rosa (3286 Airway Dr.); and at 11:30 a.m. in San Mateo (1528 El Camino Real). The protests continue at noon in Berkeley (1731 Fourth St.); Walnut Creek (1246 Broadway); Dublin (Dublin Boulevard and Amador Plaza Road); San Francisco (999 Van Ness Ave.) and Corte Madera (201 Casa Buena Dr.).

The group is hoping that their protests will spur people to sell their Tesla vehicles and their stock in the company. Tesla’s stock price has fallen nearly 50% since December from $500 a share to $270 per share.

They also said the protests will emphasize avoiding the violent behavior that has marked some demonstrations against Musk and the dealership. Police arrested a suspect in Berkeley last Saturday after that person activated a stun gun during a protest in front of a Tesla dealership.

Nationally, police in Austin, Texas, said fire-starting devices were found at a Tesla dealership there. In Las Vegas last week, Molotov cocktails and a gun were used in what police called a “targeted attack” at a Tesla collision center.

Protesters say their hope is to occupy all 276 Tesla dealerships nationally. Protests on Saturday also are scheduled in the United Kingdom and France.