Tesla protests planned across Metro Vancouver as police investigate rise in vandalism

Shaurya Kshatri · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 28, 2025 8:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Vancouver constabulary accidental they're deploying much than 130 further officers this play up of planned anti-Tesla protests and amid an ongoing spike successful politically motivated vandalism targeting the electrical carmaker.

On Saturday, protesters are expected to show extracurricular Tesla dealerships astir the world, including astatine 4 locations successful Metro Vancouver. 

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) says it's buffing up its constabulary beingness to guarantee the protests stay lawful. Since Jan. 20, it's received 28 vandalism reports connected to Tesla, including spray-painted slurs, smashed windshields and rocks thrown astatine backstage vehicles — up from zero specified reports successful each of 2024.

"While everyone is entitled to explicit themselves lawfully and peacefully, cipher has the close to usage violence, harm property, oregon intimidate others," Const. Tania Visintin said in a connection Friday.

4 'Tesla Takedown' protests planned successful Metro Vancouver

The Metro Vancouver rallies planned for Saturday — two extracurricular dealerships successful Vancouver's Fairview and East Vancouver neighbourhoods, and 2 much successful Surrey — are conscionable a fistful of hundreds planned astir the world.

Organizers person dubbed the event Tesla Takedown's Global Day of Action, the latest in a bid of demonstrations that began soon aft U.S. President Donald Trump was inaugurated, and accidental rallies volition instrumentality spot successful beforehand of much than 200 Tesla locations worldwide.

WATCH | Tesla drivers accidental they tin consciousness hostility connected the road: 

In Metro Vancouver, the protests are being organized by Vancouver's Pat McCutcheon, who says the question is astir defending ideology and pushing backmost against Tesla CEO Elon Musk's governmental influence.

"We request people, we request Canadians, we request Americans to basal up and enactment democracy," McCutcheon told CBC News. "And it starts by taking down the oligarchs that person got their hands connected the levers successful Washington, D.C., close now."

Musk, a cardinal fig successful Trump's re-election campaign, was appointed to oversee the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been slashing authorities spending and programs.

Last month, thousands of Canadians signed a petition calling for Musk's Canadian citizenship to beryllium revoked. Musk aboriginal responded connected X with the now-deleted post: "Canada is not a existent country."

McCutcheon says protestors are hoping to marque a dent successful Tesla's banal worth portion lasting up for Canadian sovereignty.

"A way to effort to rein Musk successful is to illness the income of Tesla product. This, successful turn, volition effect successful Musk's wealthiness besides collapsing," helium said. "We hope that leads to him pulling backmost from immoderate of the threats that he's imposing connected ideology close now."

The organizer says the question is gaining traction and producing results.

The Tesla CEO has lost several cardinal dollars of his idiosyncratic wealth this twelvemonth arsenic shares successful Tesla and income of its electrical vehicles plunge.

WATCH | Tesla stock, income proceed to descent for 9th consecutive week:

The Vancouver International Auto Show also removed the U.S. electrical carmaker from its lawsuit citing information concerns, and its products have been excluded from B.C.'s electrical conveyance rebate programs amid the commercialized warfare with the U.S.

Earlier this month, Musk told Fox News that, "Tesla is simply a peaceful company. We've ne'er done thing harmful. I've ne'er done thing harmful. I've lone done productive things."

Protests are peaceful, organizer says

Despite the emergence successful vandalism, McCutcheon insists the protests are peaceful and that those liable for damaging Tesla cars and facilities are not portion of the movement.

"The individuals that are doing the attacking, they've got their ain motivation," helium said. "I person nary thought what it is, but we're not a portion of it astatine all."

He says helium welcomes constabulary beingness astatine the objection sites, stating that it would guarantee the information of everyone involved. 

"We occasionally person immoderate threats astatine the protests from individuals that disagree with our position."

Protesters are expected to stitchery astatine the dealerships holding banners and Canadian flags — a country akin to a objection held past week successful Surrey.

Surrey Police Service confirmed that demonstration was peaceful. It said it expects this weekend's protests to beryllium the same, and that it hasn't deployed further officers for that reason. 

Vancouver constabulary say more than a twelve demonstrations and peculiar events are expected to gully ample crowds passim the metropolis implicit the weekend.

"Damaging backstage spot is not the answer," said Visintin. "Anyone who breaks the instrumentality volition look apprehension and charges."