I’m all for protesting, but surely you can agree that there is heightened risk if a person is in close proximity to people who oppose them strongly enough to act.

The whole purpose of a protest is to cause behavioral change; their hustling them out the back door is a success.

Do protests ever lead to violence? Are you being obtuse or do you believe this is actually safe?

All sorts of things can lead to violence, including a failure to protest. With enough weasel words, anything can sound reasonable, to people who don't pay attention to that stuff. So?

Intentionally obtuse, got it.

Does driving a car ever lead to violence? Are you being obtuse or do you believe this is actually safe?

Driving a car is not an emotional act 99.9% of the time. Driving a car while you are emotional is in fact dangerous and often leads to violence.

Pretests aren't dispassionate. That's why they have to be protected, that's also why it's deranged to suggest what you are suggesting. The main difference between the setup of a protest and a lynch mob is that the subject of a peaceful protest isn't usually present.