Preprinted signs and slogans, preprinted banners and the ‘protest’ arranged in a tight block to fit into a photo frame.
Fake as Diet Coke.
One guy on a street corner, yelling at cars = "A Crowd"
Two or three guys on a street corner, maybe with a sign or two = "Dozens"
Dozen or so people on the steps of a government building = "Hundreds"
Couple of busloads of people, maybe with some union organization = "Thousands".
But...... A Quarter-Million Tea Partiers land in Washington DC.... "What Protest? There's nothing to see here. Move along."