Freelance Journalist Alleges Assault At Anti-Tesla Demonstration

LOS ANGELES, CA — A freelance journalist says he was assaulted and had an expensive camera damaged at an anti-Tesla demonstration in Los Angeles Saturday.

Demonstrations were held in many states Saturday as part of a nationwide Tesla boycott targeting the company's founder, billionaire Elon Musk, whose actions as the head of President Donald Trump's cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency have drawn the ire of many observers.

Robert Zirgulis told City News Service that he was covering a demonstration in west Los Angeles on Saturday morning when someone attacked him and hurled his $1,400 camera into the street near Santa Monica Boulevard and Pontius Avenue.

"One of them didn't like that I was filming, and he hit me in the arm and threw my camera out into the street," Zirgulis said.

The Los Angeles Police Department told CNS that officers were dispatched to the scene at about 10 a.m. and took a report of an alleged assault at the location, but the suspect had fled prior to the arrival of police and no arrests were made.

Another anti-Tesla demonstration was planned for noon Saturday at Tesla's West Covina location at 1932 E. Garvey Ave. S.