A report in the New York Times shows support for Black Lives Matters fell dramatically AFTER the protests.

Of course it could be argued that they really weren't protests just rioting and/or organised looting.

Either way, support declined across all political groups following the protests/rioting/looting.

Do protests work? Well, again, it depends on the aims. If the aim is to get a new 65cm TV then they absolutely work.

"And as history has shown - look at what
they achieved."

Its probably best not to confuse correlation with causation. To suggest that protest calling for the dismantling of the Soviet empire were what caused said dismantling, is laughably beyond belief.

Because protests/protesters call for something to change doesn't mean they caused the change when it happens. Women got the vote in places where there were no protests. Indeed I'd argue that protests often delay change, especially when they become violent and seek to disparage or humiliate the other side. This causes a hardening of positions and opinions and makes change more difficult.There is little doubt the violent anti-war movements of the late 1960's delayed our withdrawal from that conflict due to the government not wanting to be seen to surrender to the baying mob.

We don't have to answer this for ourselves. There is good research:

Chenoweth, Erica, and Stephan, Maria J. (2013). Why civil resistance works: the strategic logic of nonviolent conflict. Columbia University Press.

Cheers -- Bo

Many people who hold a narcistic view of their self importance want to be recognized for social change in the annals of history merely for their view of self importance.

Western society as it currently exists has within it corrective powers against injustice - called "free speech". For instance the principle is: "All persons are equal", which means there should not be any form of injustice; however not all persons have equal ability, social roles, same culture, nor make equal contribution to a society; many of the present protests are trying to capture social inequality by protest, rather than viewing equality in diversity.

A protest in itself is very unlikely to have an
impact. It's got to be a long running campaign
that draws in all kinds of elements of society
in order to convince the government or
governments that they need to change.

However protests do work. Lets take a look at just
some that have:

Regarding police brutality and George Floyd (Black
Lives Matter Movement).

France has banned its police from using the chokehold
and Minneapolis has voted to dismantle and rebuild
its police force.

Sydney's first Mardi Gras in 1978 was disastrous with
disapproving police who violently suppressed
demonstrators and made 52 arrests. Today the Gay and
Lesbian Mardi Gras draws tens of thousands of people
to Sydney's Oxford Street in an annual celebration
of LGBTIQ communities.

Foxy,
African Americans are waking up to Black Lives Matter, as it is causing division and promoting racism, rather than deal with issues of social disadvantage. The outcry of Protesters was "defund the Police", not stop the choke hold when arresting uncooperating criminals. The result is thousands of law enforcers have resigned because of hostility toward them and crime has increased in areas where Police are wary to go. You call the BLM protests successful.

http://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7527&context=dissertations

Communist China has been funding BLM in America in an endeavor to create discord in American society. So far they have been successful in achieving their goal but because Covid also came out of China it has caused conflict with Chinese citizens in America a misinformed protest.