alt Hacker NewsSure, that's one example of it going one way.
Then there's Ghandi, the Arab Spring, Milošević, the Iranian Shah as examples of things going the other way - and those are just the ones that immediately came to mind.
Again, don't be a bystander believing in foregone conclusions - that way you make them self-fulfilling prophecies. Be part of writing the story instead!
All of those happened in underdeveloped, weak countries with decades of violent infighting preceding those events.
If something similar were attempted in any Western country, the people involved would be murdered and things would be back to normal the next day.
There’s a reason European countries maintain twice as many police officers per capita as the “police state” China.