I HAVE A GENUINE QUESTION

I have a genuine question. A few years ago I marched in the women's march in Orlando. It was organized, was permitted. We were told we were going to have a police escort. The escort never showed up. There was over 1,000 of us walking through the city. People on the other side were throwing full cans of Coca Cola at our heads. And from where I was standing, nothing happened. Fast forward to this weekend, about 400 members of Patriot Front, a group that civil rights organizations have identified as a white supremacist hate group, marched through Washington DC. They were wearing masks, carrying Confederate flags and chanting through the nation's capital while police managed the event and monitored the march. Southern Poverty Law Center and Anti-Defamation League both identify Patriot Front as a white supremacist hate group. So here's what I'm just trying to understand. Like that organized a march through our nation's capital, did they have a permit? If they did, how do they get one? And if they didn't, why was everything so coordinated? Because when I look at my own experience, the difference is really hard to ignore. I'm not saying police shouldn't protect people's constitutional rights. I'm just asking why those protections have felt so inconsistent. If a peaceful women's march couldn't get, we were promised while people were throwing objects at us. How does this happen? An explanation. If there is, I genuinely like to hear. Because from where I'm standing, it doesn't make sense.