1. If that were true women would still be unable to vote. Would you tell women in 1905 that "it's a democracy, you don't need to protest, just vote."
2. Even now, we have seen the power that be make it more and more difficult to vote. The current administration is throwing a complete temper tantrum at even the thought of letting people use absentee ballots during a national pandemic, citing the voter fraud boogeyman.
In what timeline are you talking about? Women's Suffrage definitely had protests turn violent. Here[1] is source about documenting this violence, and I went through the trouble of finding a source published 2 years ago in order to counter any narrative that it's "convenient" for today's issues. History has a way of whitewashing and romanticizing what were difficult fights for rights.
Large protests turn violent, and I'm not surprised that, with record unemployment as well, that looting is being amplified as well.
Besides, in any case, it's long established that peaceful protests don't even work. A man can't even kneel during a sports game without his protest being diminished.
[1] https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-viol...