Not only that, but there were plenty of armed people on the sidelines, ready to jump in if anyone messed with the nonviolent demonstrators. You read the stories, and it's like, the nonviolence group of students would come into today, and the local hosts would take turns sitting in the window all night with a loaded rifle, in case any klan or the like wanted to come by and cause trouble. I read This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible and recommend it highly, great book if you are interested.