One of the worst outcomes of the civil rights movement was the acceptance of an undifferentiated “right to protest”.
There is no such right.
This is confected out of two actual rights - the right to speak freely, and the right to peaceably assemble IN ORDER TO petition the government for redress of grievances.
It is perfectly obvious that showing up with helmets, face shields or gas masks, body armor, and bats does not contemplate peaceable assembly.
And there is no sense in which breaking windows and setting fires constitute petition in any rational sense.
This is open insurrection, and it will get worse until it is stopped. The fact that the insurrectionists have governmental and military support is turning insurrection into revolution - and that means, all bets are off.
Nashville’s beautiful Legislative Plaza, where these heathens have been camping, has many water hook-ups for fire hoses. They haven’t been put to use spraying the trash off.