Two activists in Manhattan wound up in handcuffs Tuesday after they vandalized a Tesla dealership as a part of an express Earth Day protest towards the corporate’s founder, billionaire-turned-“government efficiency” official Elon Musk.
Photograph by Dean Moses
Two activists in Manhattan wound up in handcuffs Tuesday after they vandalized a Tesla dealership as a part of an express Earth Day protest towards the corporate’s founder, billionaire-turned-“government efficiency” official Elon Musk.
Activists from Extinction Riot NYC carried out a shock protest towards Musk outdoors the Tesla store, 860 Washington St. in Soho, simply after midday on April 22.
Demonstrators took spray cans and started spraying anti-Musk messages over the home windows of the dealership, writing “DOGE” with a cross by means of it, “F**k Elon,” and “we do not consent.” Potential patrons and bystanders regarded on with mouths agape because the demonstrators scrawled their messages in inexperienced and crimson spray paint.
The vandalism sought to make a press release towards Musk, who President Trump appointed as chief of the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) to slash funding and staffing deemed wasteful at quite a few authorities businesses. The demonstrators imagine Musk has a seemingly unfiltered function in authorities with out having been duly elected or vetted by means of a conventional advice-and-consent course of like conventional cupboard members.
Activists from Extinction Riot NYC carried out a shock protest towards Musk outdoors the Tesla store, 860 Washington St. in Soho, simply after midday on April 22.Photograph by Dean Moses 
Demonstrators took spray cans and started spraying anti-Musk messages over the home windows of the dealership, writing “DOGE” with a cross by means of it, “F**k Elon,” and “we do not consent.”Photograph by Dean Moses
Cops then moved to apprehend one other vandal, who confirmed his paint-covered arms to police, saying tongue-in-cheek, “You caught me red-handed.”
Protesters appeared to have the final chuckle, nonetheless, revealing that they used non-destructive paint that could possibly be simply washed away.
Photograph by Dean Moses 
Officers from the sixth Precinct raced to the scene, yanking a twig paint can out of 1 vandal’s hand and instantly cuffing him. “Planet over profits,” the protester stated as he was taken away in cuffs.Photograph by Dean Moses
Extinction Riot, a worldwide environmental motion, stated the vandalism was a crucial act to ship a powerful message to the Trump administration.
“As democratic rights get eroded, the time for niceties is long since past. Mass marches will not save us. Trump knows this. Trump counts on this. We have been unable to stop him from tearing our institutions apart, just as we have been helpless to avoid the climate breakdown, as the world dies around us,” Extinction Riot stated in a press release. “The social contract between the government and its citizens is broken. We refuse to be bystanders like the Democrats, we refuse to wait for this emergency to proceed beyond the point of no return.”
