(Reuters) – Tesla cars, infrastructures and offices have become targets of vandalism in several countries in response to CEO Elon Musk’s right-wing activism.
Musk, a close ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and head of the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, has stirred controversy by courting far-right parties in Europe.
In recent weeks, people have also gathered outside car dealerships in Washington and Berlin to protest against the tech billionaire.
Here are some of the acts of vandalism reported against Tesla in the United States, as well as other countries starting from the most recent.
UNITED STATES
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said on March 20 that three people had been charged in connection with arson incidents at Tesla car dealerships and charging stations.
Lucy Grace Nelson, 42, was charged with possession of a destructive device and malicious destruction of property used in interstate commerce. She was spotted at a Tesla dealership in Loveland, Colorado, on several occasions in January and February, according to a criminal complaint. Police found a container of gasoline, a box of bottles and wick material in Nelson’s car, the complaint said.
Adam Matthew Lansky, 41, was accused of throwing about eight Molotov cocktails at a Tesla dealership in Salem, Oregon.
Daniel Clarke-Pounder, 24, was charged with malicious destruction of property after allegedly throwing incendiary devices at Tesla charging stations in North Charleston, South Carolina.
At least five Tesla vehicles were damaged at a Las Vegas facility on March 18, with two fully engulfed in flames, the city’s metropolitan police department said in a social media post.
SWEDEN
Two Tesla dealerships and cars were vandalised in Stockholm and Malmö, Swedish media reported on March 31, as activists from the Restore Wetlands group, part of the A22 Network across Europe, sprayed them with orange paint. Four people have been arrested, public broadcaster SVT reported.
The paint was removed early on Tuesday morning with the stores being open.
ITALY
An overnight fire at a Tesla dealership in Rome destroyed 17 cars on March 31. Italian police is investigating the possibility that anarchists were behind the fire, a security source said.
Musk commented the single word “terrorism” in a post on X about the fire.
GERMANY
Activists from environmentalist collective Neue Generation (New Generation), also part of the A22 Network, sprayed blue paint on a Tesla dealership in Berlin on March 31.
Seven Tesla cars burnt down in the northern German city of Verden on March 29. Local police said investigations were ongoing to determine the cause of the fire.
AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
In early March, a Tesla dealership in Tasmania was vandalised, with graffiti calling Musk a Nazi. In a Facebook group for Tesla owners in Australia, several posters said their cars had been vandalised in recent months.
In New Zealand, police arrested a 52-year-old man in connection with multiple vandalised Teslas in Auckland.
(Reporting by Mathias de Rozario and Amir Orusov in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi)
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