NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Nine people were arrested

during a raucous demonstration outside a New York City Tesla

dealership on Saturday, protesting owner Elon Musk's

role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce at the behest of

President Donald Trump.

The protest, which police said involved hundreds of people,

was one of a wave of "Tesla Takedown" demonstrations staged

across the country targeting billionaire Musk, who is

spearheading the Trump administration's so-called Department of

Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

Throngs of protesters also descended on the electric vehicle

maker's showrooms in Jacksonville, Florida, Tucson, Arizona, and

other cities, blocking traffic, chanting and waving signs

reading "Burn a Tesla: Save Democracy," and "No Dictators in the

USA."

Musk, the world's richest person, is leading an

unprecedented push to shrink the federal government that has

resulted in the firing of thousands of employees and the

termination of hundreds of aid contracts and federal leases.

Tesla and a White House spokesperson did not immediately

respond to attempts to seek comment by phone and email on

Saturday night.

In some cases, federal agencies have been forced to try to

hire back key workers that had been fired, including some

responsible for America's nuclear weapons, scientists trying to

fight a worsening outbreak of bird flu and officials responsible

for supplying electricity.

At least 100,000 of the 2.3 million federal employees have

agreed to buy-outs or have been fired since Trump took office on

January 20.

"We are taking action at Tesla, Musk's flagship company,"

the organizers said on the website actionnetwork.org, calling

for people to dump Tesla stock and "join the picket lines."

"Detaching Musk from Tesla would be a meaningful blow

against this administration and its prerogatives, because it

would be a strike against what they hold most dear: money and

power," actor and filmmaker Alex Winter wrote in a Rolling Stone

article. Winter has posted on social media that he helped

organize the protests.