Berkeley police arrested a man Saturday during a demonstration outside the Fourth Street Tesla showroom after he reportedly brandished some type of stun gun at people during the event.
Limited details were available as of publication time, but a reader said he saw the “Pro-Trump counter protestor arrested at Tesla Takedown in Berkeley” at about 1 p.m.
“Not sure what happened, but heard a zap like a tazer,” he wrote on the Bluesky social media app.
“Pro-trump dude was biking around and almost hitting people with his bike,” another community member wrote on Bluesky. “Protesters confronted him and he whipped out a taser and stuck it in their faces and the cops saw everything and arrested him.”
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The man who was arrested also attended the Berkeley protest last week, community members said.
“Same bike with speakers blasting. Was wearing a Trump T-shirt and was taking video of himself making fun of the crowd last week,” a witness said.
The person who was arrested had contacted The Scanner previously to share YouTube videos in which he antagonized people at Berkeley protests.
There have been protests outside the Berkeley Tesla showroom at 1731 Fourth St. since Feb. 15, BPD said Friday in response to a Scanner inquiry.
According to a post on the Action Network website, the protesters hope their “Tesla Takedown” demonstrations will help “save lives and our democracy.”
“We are taking action at Tesla to protest Elon Musk and his illegal activities,” organizers wrote in relation to an event planned for March 29. “Sell your Teslas, dump your stock, join the picket lines. Hurting Tesla is stopping Musk. Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.”
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” the organizers continued. “No one is coming to save us — not politicians, not the media.”
Action Network
Other groups, including Indivisible East Bay, have made similar posts online.
“Elon Musk is destroying our democracy, and he’s using the fortune he built at Tesla to do it. We are taking action at Tesla to stop Musk’s illegal coup,” organizers wrote in relation to an event planned for March 30. “Tesla Takedown is a peaceful protest movement. We oppose violence, vandalism and destruction of property. This protest is a lawful exercise of our First Amendment right to peaceful assembly.”
The weekly demonstration has grown over time, police said.
About 100 demonstrators attended the Feb. 15 event and there were “no reports of criminal activity,” BPD said.
The next week, Feb. 22, the crowd had grown to 150-200 people, and “remained peaceful,” according to police.
On March 1, police observed that the crowd, of about 300 demonstrators, included 20-30 people who carried backpacks and wore masks and black clothing.
During the protest that day, Berkeley police said, a uniformed officer saw one person throw rust-red paint on the store entrance and walkway before leaving the area.
Police arrested that individual later on suspicion of vandalism and being in possession of a controlled substance, BPD said.
The next two weeks, March 8 and March 15, were peaceful with crowds of about 150 demonstrators, police said,
On Sunday, March 16, someone called police about a woman at the Tesla showroom who “was refusing to leave the premises, shouting profanities and obscenities at customers entering and exiting the business. Despite being asked to leave by the staff, the subject continued to engage in disruptive behavior,” BPD said.
Last week, when officers arrived, they tried to get the woman to move onto the public sidewalk, according to BPD, but the “requests were met with resistance.”
Police ultimately arrested the woman on suspicion of trespassing.
In addition to the ongoing demonstrations, police told TBS that there had been at least 13 Teslas vandalized in Berkeley since Jan. 1.
The Scanner will seek additional details from police about Saturday’s arrest and will update this story when they are available.
