Um, they sure as hell were. If they did indeed issue permits for the violent leftists for the same location, as stated in the article, what did they think was going to happen?
After issuing permits for violent rightists? Neither side put on the permit that they planned to beat the crap out of the other side, though both sided showed up intending to do exactly that.
The President is exactly correct on this. Both sides deserve condemnation for the violence that occurred. Both came looking for trouble. Both got what they were looking for.