Civil disobedience

[Julene]

active refusal to obey certain laws, demands and commands of a government or of an occupying power without resorting to physical violence. The American author [Henry David] [Thoreau] pioneered the modern theory behind this practice in his 1849 essay [Civil Disobedience]. In seeking an active form of [civil disobedience], one may choose to deliberately break certain laws, such as by forming a peaceful blockade or occupying a facility illegally.

[Michiko]

A euphemism for an illegal activity done in the name of a cause. Acts of civil disobedience can include:
firebombing a development in the name of the environment
smashing a McDonalds [sign in] the name of [fair trade]
[rioting] in the name of peace.

[Tariq Zaki]

the act by a group of people of refusing to obey laws or pay taxes, as a peaceful way of expressing their disapproval of those laws or taxes and in order to persuade the government to change them: