Ranks a little thin? Hire a protestor!
Mariano Castillo reports in the San Antonio Express:

AUSTIN — When 41 temporary workers, many of them students, boarded a bus from Corpus Christi to McAllen to attend a redistricting hearing there Tuesday, they expected to make easy money as seat warmers.

"Hey Trudy, I got a gig!"

One day before the Senate Jurisprudence Committee held its hearings in McAllen, several chamber members approached Niskala. He said they were concerned about the impact that changes to the 27th District would have on the city's ability to keep its military bases open.

Unable to muster many chamber members because of short notice, one businessman agreed to pay the minimum wage for the temporary workers, Niskala said.
...
One of those decisions put the temporary workers — who were given little instruction other than to attend — on the same bus as members of the American GI Forum, another Corpus Christi delegation whose protests and heckling had brought the Brownsville hearings to a standstill.

Jeff LeBeau, the general manager of the temp agency, checked on his employees at the bus loading area and promptly was asked to leave. He said he complied, though it added to his suspicion about the project.

"Our understanding was that the job was to ride the bus, attend the hearing, and maybe help out hanging a sign. That was it," said LeBeau, who also would not name the businessman who paid for the workers.

The temps became concerned during a food break outside McAllen, where GI Forum leaders gave instructions on what to do if they were arrested, LeBeau said.

"But then I got really suspicious!"

LeBeau assured nervous employees who contacted him by cell phone that they did not have to participate in a demonstration. As many as 15 to 18 employees stayed on the bus, and the other half joined the protest, LeBeau said.

"And then I sat on the bus for hours."

Another experiment in democracy, brought to you by the Democrat party.