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Quite the contrary. They base their power on the perception that they have a mass movement behind them. Protests can break that perception. There’s an entire wikipedia article on it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_resistance_to_Nazism
It’s not time to put away that tool just yet. Protests on a mass scale can do a lot.
Would it be taken as a sign to invade France, not invade France, eat a French bread sub sandwich for lunch, or …?