You have a valid point but in the IRC netiquette there's a strong (very strong) taboo against server/network operators abusing their permissions to interfere with channels, particuarly taking over a channel that is registered.
This is indicative of the broader problem: whereas the former staff treated Freenode as a community resource of which they were stewards (hence also the policy around abandoned channels), the new administration is clearly treating it as their personal sandbox to play in.