What I did was try my best planning around it. E.g. I did move from place to place over night, when you can actually clean up blockades, etc. I have one fun experience in being in Uber in between heavy armed police and the protestors and the police started shooting tear gas, so my Uber driver had to pull up windows...

The protests often look scarier than they actually are. On TV you see only the scariest stuff. Also pay attention to the schedule - there are usually specific days on which people protest.