Interesting, it seems somewhat like now that the opposition has shown that it has mass appeal and is committed, the struggle has moved behind the scenes. While the low level people get hauled off, the influential opposition figures have used the number and commitment of the protesters to push their case.

I am not entirely sure that the aims of the protesters and their influential backers are always the same, however. It seemed like many of the protesters wanted more democracy, while their backers may want merely a tweaking of the system.