How would I go about creating a Google Alert for this?

I want to create a Google alert for any time there’s a protest on my state’s capitol. Since I don’t have time to read 15 local newspapers and thousands of blogs every day, that would really save me from finding out about it from friends hours after it happened. Unfortunately, Google Alerts is falling into this weird vortex in which I have no Google-fu. So, what do I use as keywords, and then what do I use for all the other options?