They don’t make the relevant laws but can be punished by higher authorities for breaking them.
Unless it could be legally guranteed any potential punishment would be transferred to your team’s shoulders, it’s bizarre to expect someone else sitting in some municipal office to take the risk.
Probably thousands even in some random small city.
I’m guessing no one on the team had ever coordinated even a thousand people before on some complex legal issue. So it’s just bizarre to suddenly expect anyone capable of that would do so on their behalf and reach out with invitations…
Other places could have a helpful bureaucracy, or one that ignores the laws, or accepts bribes.
It’s not like someone could accidentally board a flight to China and clear immigration by happenstance, or without being informed that things may be very different from their home country.
It’s not even a guarantee of getting the relevant visa in time, that’s true for every big country I know of.