Assuming that these armed people actually broke the law, that’s the better move then. Otherwise there would be a huge outbreak of violence. But that’s not really comparable to lawful protests.

I am comparing the law enforcement tactics, not the reasons for the protests. The protests themselves being incomparable is irrelevant.

I'd say it's the best, least violent and risky way of dealing with this.

The tool is good. Ensuring it's used for good reasons it's a separate problem.