they are better than nothing at all. baiting the govt into killing some of the protestors can quickly turn it into a revolution. the best way to accomplish this is to be violent first.. the populace won't care who started it, they'll be more outraged at the 'bully' which will always be the govt. there's countless historical examples of this. and countless historical examples where it failed. but it always places the govt on tenterhooks... there's a reason why China is so paranoid about tianamen square.