@sun

It's the same in Canada. The sweet spot in terms of number of protesters seems to be about 50-100. If you have less than 50 people in the crowd then the police will beat you on account of being a public nuisance. If you have 50-100 people you're just big enough that it's too great a hassle for the cops to easily deal with. If you're more than 100 people, you're a threat and the city authorities will come down on you like an iron jack boot while the MSM all vilifies you in lockstep so the general public will excuse the authorities for doing so. Of course it depends on the cause too. If you're doing some kind of activism that the government condones du jour, then they might turn a blind eye, or even provide union and NGO funding, some photo ops with local politicians, and so on.