And that is possibly the aim. When the protests turn into violence or sabotage, the state uses that to justify its own violent repression.
Which I think is likely, but also a bad decision. Generally speaking, the job of a legitimate government is to make violent protest unnecessary. So depending on the situation, the best action may indeed be to back down and rethink how things got there in the first place, rather than continuing to provoke more violence. Continuing to escalate is not a sustainable strategy for anyone that intends to maintain power for long, as the numbers are not generally on their side.
the point of these weapon is not "defeat" but mostly to crowd control right because you cant rule out if there is no crime even in peaceful protest, both things can be true at the same time
also if such weapon is not permanently injure or harm people, I can see why this weapon is in need like pepper spray
You don't break up a gathering because there's the possibility of crimes occurring unless you live in an authoritarian society.
of course who give a shit is the owner, its all sunshine until it happen on your neighbourhood
Thank you for engaging in good faith.