I sometimes wonder if their isn't too much emphasis on the idea of total control in every encounter with law enforcement. I understand that officer safety is the likely motivation behind this, and I'm all for that. But it seems that in some of these engagements, had the police chosen to step back and attempted to isolate the situation and clear away bystanders, things may have played out differently.
As far as protecting the "innocent" bystanders, it seems that in many of these situations, the bystanders are further escalating and provoking events by running towards the trouble with cell phones held high, even taunting the police. Such stupidity doesn't merit protecting imo.
So in Cleveland, I'm more inclined to think that the police should back away and let the chips fall where they fall.
Get lots of surveillance up, restrict access to the events via. some well controlled pathways, and weed out those caught on camera as they attempt to leave.
That and have a clean up crew with lots of mops standing by.
Neither firearms carry laws, nor freedom of speech protections are in place to protect stupid people from the consequences of shooting their mouths off in the wrong place at the wrong time.