Business

The Back Bay Tesla location is becoming a perennial protest site

Rally-goers have been joining a national movement against Elon Musk’s push to slash government spending.

Protestors in front of Tesla on Boylston Street. JOSEPH PREZIOSO via Getty Images

March 18, 2025

3 minutes to read

Hundreds of rallygoers gathered outside the Tesla showroom on Boylston Street this past Saturday to protest the automaker’s billionaire CEO Elon Musk’s role in slashing government spending and overseeing massive cuts to the federal workforce.

In videos on social media, the crowd chanted, “We don’t want your Nazi cars, let’s send Elon back to Mars.”

Boston: 350+ people out for the #TeslaTakedown protest!

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— Shua Sanchez (@shuasanchez.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 7:39 PM

According to event organizers, the growing demonstration of more than 300 people, which began with only a handful of people a month ago, included live music from a brass band and people speaking through megaphones.

Protesters held up signs that read, “Stop the Chainsaw Massacre, Cut Elon out!” “Elon ate my cat,” “Billionaires are not above the law,” and “Fight fascism.”

The weekly protest in the Back Bay is part of a nationwide movement at Tesla stores to discourage purchases from the electric car company. Protesters are asking people to sell Teslas and dump their company stock, worth nearly $750 billion.

Thank you to Boston for another amazing #TeslaTakedown!! We’re there every Saturday from 12pm-2pm

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— Heather Johnston (@heatherjn.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 4:46 PM

Regional protests have also started at the Tesla dealerships in Dedham and Peabody, and at the Tesla supercharger in Auburn, Massachusetts. Others also started in Providence and Cranston, Rhode Island.

Shua Sanchez, an event organizer and Boston resident, said the movement began when people became upset over Musk’s actions in the first weeks of the Trump administration and didn’t know how to direct these feelings.

Then, Boston University professor Joan Donovan kicked off the movement in Boston by posting on Bluesky about a few protesters in front of a Tesla supercharger in Maine, saying, “Get inspired by these folks in Maine. Take a few friends to a Tesla dealership and picket on the sidewalk. All social change starts small and snowballs over time.”

Sanchez said the #TeslaTakedown took off. Protests have now taken place at over 100 locations in the U.S.

Sanchez said the protests are grassroots and decentralized. His goal is to see the shareholders of Tesla remove Musk as CEO, to have the thousands of federal workers rehired, and to have open investigations into Tesla’s assisted driver technology.

For now, Sanchez and about 20 other people who first met each other at the first protest on Feb. 15 say the goal is to continue to grow the movement.

At the downtown protests, Sanchez said, “People are having a good time,” and can see that others also care what is going on. It’s nice to know “that you are not alone,” he said.

One protester, Heather Johnston, said she felt outraged and powerless over the news from DC in early February. After she heard of people planning protests outside of Tesla showrooms, she showed up and has been returning since.

“I hope these protests will continue to show how many people disagree with what Musk and Trump are doing and will weaken Musk’s economic and political power,” Johnston wrote in an email to Boston.com.

“I think we are already seeing a difference,” Johnston continued. She noted that Tesla stocks continue to fall.

Under Musk’s leadership, Tesla has grown into one of the world’s biggest producers of electric vehicles. The company sells cars, SUVs, trucks, and energy generation and storage systems.

The protest comes after seven Tesla charging stations near a shopping center in Littleton were intentionally set on fire earlier this month.

Johnston noted that the protesters at the Tesla showroom “do not condone violence or property damage of any kind” and added that the downtown Boston events are festive and peaceful. “Yes, we are angry, but also joyful,” she wrote.

Unlike other recent protests on Boston Common over Musk’s layoffs or in support of democracy and against the current administration’s policies, this one targets the business itself.

The protests in front of the Prudential Center are happening in front of the region’s top shopping destinations, which can attract 80,000 visitors daily.

#boston #teslatakedown

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— Jim Verquist (@verquist.bsky.social) March 15, 2025 at 3:27 PM

Meg Mainzer Cohen, the president of the Back Bay Association, says the organization does not believe the recent protests in front of Tesla will affect local businesses.

“This is a location where a lot of different activities related to free speech occur,” Cohen said. “This is another addition to that.”

Cohen said many have voiced their thoughts and concerns not far away in Copley Square. Now, it has moved down Boylston Street.

“We are an important part of that realm,” Cohen said. “This is what Boston is known for.”

There are plans to hold another picket line next weekend, Saturday, March 22, at noon.