A fire that broke out overnight at a Tesla dealership near Tolouse, , destroyed eight vehicles and damaged four more. The incident happened in the early hours of Monday, at 3.15am, in the town of Plaisance-du-Touch, according to the prosecutor's office. The officials said the fire was started deliberately, and have begun an investigation into "the destruction and damage of property belonging to others by dangerous means".

This comes as protests against Elon Musk - the Telsa owner - have been on the rise, after he backed Donald Trump's campaign for President. The Telsa billionaire is heading up a new agency called the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which aims to slash federal spending. As part of those plans, thousands federal employes stand to be made redundant.

Musk's involvement in DOGE and support of Trump has sparked a furious backlash across the US, with dozens of protests taking place in front of Telsa dealerships.

Protesters hope to discourage and stigmatise purchases of Tesla, the electric car company that is the world's most valuable automaker.

"We can get back at Elon," Nathan Phillips, a 58-year-old ecologist from Newton, Massachusetts, who was protesting in Boston on Saturday, told the AP news agency.

"We can impose direct economic damage on Tesla by showing up at showrooms everywhere and boycotting Tesla and telling everyone else to get out, sell your stocks, sell your Teslas."

More than 50 demonstrations were listed Saturday on the website Tesla Takedown, with more planned later in March from coast to coast in the United States along with England, Spain and Portugal.

News reports showed demonstrations in recent days in US cities including Tucson, Arizona, St. Louis, New York City, Dayton, Ohio, Charlotte, and Palo Alto, California.

Some Tesla owners have also reported their vehicles being vandalised with spray-painted swastikas amid what Jewish groups and observers fear to be a rise in anti-semitism.

The White House struck a defiant tone over the growing number of anti-Musk demonstrations, issuing a statment in support of both the Tesla owner and Trump.

"Protests will not deter President Trump and Musk from delivering on the promise to establish DOGE and make our federal government more efficient and more accountable to the hardworking American taxpayers across the country," said spokesperson Harrison Fields.