I don't think there's really approval for protests, but "The majority of protests in China concern local grievances, such as the corruption of county- or township-level government or Communist Party officials, exploitation by employers, excessive taxation, and so on. Protests targeting specific, local grievances, and where citizens propose actionable remedies, are more likely to succeed than alternative forms of protests."
These are usually broadcasted openly on the Chinese internet and allowed by the Chinese government. Like I'm of Chinese ethnicity and I occasionally see Chinese news, these are the only protests put on Chinese State news that you can see because it forwards Chinese govt. agenda.
EDIT: Note that a BBC News article about it says that "The BBC's Martin Patience in Beijing says the outbreak of protests was almost certainly sanctioned by the Chinese authorities, as they were well policed."
source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_and_dissent_in_China