This is the 5100th most frequent Polish word.
protestów
"Protestów" means "protests."
Here, 'protestów' is the genitive plural form of 'protest,' which is used in this context to indicate the quantity ('number of') protests growing.
W miastach odbywały się liczne demonstracje i protestów przybywało każdego dnia.
In the cities, numerous demonstrations were held, and the number of protests grew every day.
In this sentence, 'protestów' is again in the genitive plural case, but here it is used with the preposition 'unikania,' which requires the genitive case to express 'avoiding' protests.
Podjęliśmy działania w celu unikania dalszych protestów.
We took actions to avoid further protests.
The word 'protestów' in this context shows the result or consequence ('led to') and is in the genitive plural case due to its connection with an expression of quantity or results.