"Peaceful protest is being squashed and de-legitimized. This is the flowering of fascism."
This is really not true. The protests turned quickly into riots and the more heavy-handed police tactics literally started only days later.
The rioters burnt down a police station for gosh sakes.
There are no 'protetors' clashing with police in a violent way. I think decent folks move on after curfew.
It's the adventure-seeking rabble, those out for some photos, who want to see the action first hand, who might want to light something in fire. The people not dispersing at curfew I don't think are ideological or protesters in any sense of the word. It's just youth in antagonism for every and all reasons, as old as time.