Most literature has agreed that the dissidents in nonviolent resistance resort to aggressive strategies as a response to states’ use of violence. Yet, less attention has been given to explaining variation in targets of protesters’ violence, or accounted for the variation in the protest organizational dimensions. In addressing these gaps, this paper argues that such target selection depends on the organizational characteristics of protester groups, especially the degree of organization cohesion and the presence of clear decision-making authority. The preliminary results of quantitative analysis of anti-government protests events in Africa between 1991 and 2017 are consistent with these expectations. Targeting government-affiliated individuals and properties is more likely when the movement has a clear and centralised decision-making agency. Attacking on civilians and private properties is more extensively used in a civil resistance movement with the decentralised and leader-less organizations involved in.