Nine people arrested at anti-Musk protest outside of NYC Tesla dealership

(TNND) — Nine people were arrested on Saturday at a protest outside a New York City Tesla dealership, Reuters reports.

Protestors gathered to rally against Tesla owner and head of the Department of Government Efficiency Elon Musk’s role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce under the leadership of President Donald Trump.

Police said the protest involved hundreds of people and was just one wave of “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations arranged across the country.

Groups of protestors also gathered at Tesla showrooms in Jacksonville, Florida, Tucson, Arizona and other cities. They held signs, some which read “Burn a tesla: Save Democracy,” and “No Dictators in the USA” Reuters reported.

Billionaire Musk is spearheading the cause to slash federal spending and shrink the government, which has led to mass firings of thousands of employees and the termination of hundreds of aid contracts and federal leases leaving many without jobs.

Tesla and the White House have not responded to requests for comment.

Federal employees were also given the option for a buy-out offered by the Trump administration. At least 100,000 of the 2.3 million employees agreed to this buyout, Reuters reports.

“We are taking action at Tesla, Musk’s flagship company,” the organizers wrote on the website actionnetwork.org, calling for people to drop their Tesla stocks and “join the picket lines.”

“Detaching Musk from Tesla would be a meaningful blow against this administration and its prerogatives, because it would be a strike against what they hold most dear: money and power,” actor and filmmaker Alex Winter said in a Rolling Stone article.