Protests targeting Elon Musk also took place over the weekend. In New York, nine people were arrested as they demonstrated outside a Tesla dealership. Rallies also took place in front of Tesla retailers in Jacksonville, Florida; Tucson, Arizona; and other cities as protesters held signs reading messages like “No Dictators in the USA.” In Los Angeles, hundreds of people demonstrated at the SpaceX facility in Hawthorne. SpaceX has received billions of dollars in government funding and has been apparently trying to take over a $2.4 billion Federal Aviation Administration contract that had already been awarded to Verizon.
Meanwhile, thousands gathered at national parks across the country to condemn the firings of at least 1,000 National Park Service employees and to defend public lands.