...with metal detectors like many other public gatherings? The weaponry those people were marching around with while people nearby were brawling in the streets was mind boggling.

The Charlottesville PD, with all sympathy for the officers lost in the copter, could have looked a lot worse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/13/us/charlottesville-protests-unite-the-right.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Glad I wasn't there. Calls into question why the police didn't intervene sooner.