It's most certainly not just the US. In the (western European) country where I live, for instance, even a static protest or demonstration with no chanting or marching and only a few participants requires non-trivial and somewhat expensive police approval ahead of time. Most larger spontaneous events seem to just ignore this and the police haven't generally responded violently, to their credit.

> As the looks of it, US is pretty non-free when it comes to peacefully protesting

What is your definition of peaceful protest? What we see in the US now is definitely not within my range.

Thrashing stores, looting, torching vehicles.

What makes you thinks that?

When I think non free, I think of the CCP prohibiting peaceful rememberance of Tianamen square.