9 folks had been arrested Saturday afternoon at a raucous protest in opposition to Elon Musk at his Tesla automotive showroom in downtown Manhattan.
Round 300 protesters flooded the road round 1 p.m. exterior the Tesla showroom at Washington and and W. 13 Sts. within the Meatpacking District. Demonstrators held quite a few indicators with slogans like “Don’t Buy a Swasticar,” “Nazi,” “No Dictators in the USA,” “Musk Is Out of Control” and “F— MAGA”
Brian Flanagan, 66, and his spouse, Shawn Haugen, 64 got here to the protest from New Rochelle in Westchester to decry the budget-slashing head of DOGE, or the Division of Authorities Effectivity.
Protesters mobbed Washington St. at a “Pull the Plug on Musk” protest exterior the Tesla showroom within the Meatpacking District on March 1, 2025. (Photograph by LEONARDO MUNOZ/AFP through Getty Photos)
“Musk has aligned himself with Trump,” Flanagan mentioned. “He basically bought himself a seat at the table. We know he has a seat at the table because Trump told all his cabinet members that, if none of them are happy about Musk, they can go take a hike. So this isn’t something that the far left made up or liberals or woke people. This is real. It’s happening.
“One of the things that I tell everyone, too, is we sit on the couch and we complain and we do all our social media, but we can’t, we can’t complain if we don’t do anything,” Haugen mentioned. “So we’re out here to make our voices heard and to tell people that we’re not happy, that this is not right.”
In the course of the anti-Musk demonstration, one of many place’s glass entrance doorways was smashed. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Day by day Information)
In the course of the protest, two of the contributors went contained in the showroom and refused to depart, whereas six others sat on the entrance door and eliminated to maneuver. The group erupted in chants, together with, “No more business as usual! Stop the coup!” and “Nobody voted for Elon Musk!”
The anti-Elon motion was organized by Rise and Resist, a bunch shaped in 2017 throughout President Trump’s first time period, over Musk’s being handed management of presidency fee and personnel methods, with the protest theme of “Pull the Plug on Musk.”
Throughout a second of anti-Musk mayhem, one of many place’s glass entrance doorways was smashed.
In the course of the protest, one of many Tesla showroom’s glass doorways was shattered. (Julian Roberts-Grmela / New York Day by day Information)
Zack Winestine, a member of Rise and Resist, was one of many two protesters arrested contained in the showroom. He mentioned he held an American flag and an anti-Musk signal and didn’t contact any of the dear electrical autos. He mentioned there was a swarm of photographers on the protest jostling to get pictures of them, one among whose gear unintentionally swung on the glass door, cracking it.
“Very fragile glass,” Winestine gibed. “It’s like a Cybertruck — you tap the thing and the fender falls off.”
Protesters focused the Tesla showroom at Washington and and W. 13 Sts. within the Meatpacking District on Saturday, following an earlier protest there a number of weeks in the past. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Day by day Information)
Winestine, a West Village filmmaker and activist, mentioned eight protesters had been arrested for trespassing and one other for a minor violation. He obtained a desk look ticket. Police confirmed the arrests however didn’t specify the costs.
“[The protest was] to get the message out that Elon Musk, who owns Tesla, is an unelected billionaire,” Winestine mentioned, “is seizing power in this country and destroying many of the systems that people depend upon for healthcare, food distribution, disaster relief. …. We were exercising our constitutional right to petition our government, and right now our government is Elon Musk, and if we want to petition our government, it looks like we have to go to a Tesla showroom.
“The courts will catch up with him,” Winestine mentioned, “but he’s doing so much damage now.”
Round 300 protesters flooded the road round 1 p.m. exterior the Tesla showroom at Washington and and W. 13 Sts. within the Meatpacking District. (Theodore Parisienne / New York Day by day Information)
Initially Printed: March 1, 2025 at 8:05 PM EST
