I agree that political protest doesn't provide a license to do absolutely anything. But when laws are selectively enforced against people with particular political views because of their views, that's a big deal to me regardless of the views.

Because of that, I believe that political activity should be given relatively wide latitude for anything that is basically related to freedom of speech or freedom of assembly. For example, here in San Francisco, a person blocking traffic for the hell of it might get ticketed for jaywalking. But if a group of protestors takes to the streets, the police will just direct traffic around it and keep an eye on it as long as it stays peaceful. And I think that's about right.