I just watched some dude drive his newer Audi slowly through a protest, the driver got out and didn't seem violent, in guessing he just wanted to go home, the protestors were trying to physically assualt him and were at the same time trashing his car.
The violent protesters are definitely ruining it.....
But I believe that their ultimate goal is to get China to react violently. This is really sad as most of my family lives in Hong Kong. My father is from there and he agrees with the original intent of the protests. My personal view is if the US can't turn around their country, China (and Russia) will do whatever the hell they want.