My experience is that protest organized inside a political party is far more effective (and far more consistent with our Parliamentary democracy to boot).

For example, NDP Leader Ed Broadbent shamed the government into reforming insurance company and banking taxation when he repeated, day after day, that the teller at a Canadian bank paid more income tax than the bank did.

I could also cite David Lewis' slogan of "corporate welfare bums" as producing reforms.

For that matter, the "ringing of the (division) bells" by Joe Clark's PCs forced Pierre Trudeau to make amendments to the Charter of Rights. 

I was able to secure many important changes for my constituents in the House (such as lowering credit card interest rates and banking fees) using their real life examples.

However satisfying raucous street protests are; the record indicates political action produces far larger, and more important, results.