Their goal is to clear the streets. By forming a line and walking down at the same time, you can force people in a direction. You can't do this if you are stopping to arrest everyone that is not complying. They probably need to make exceptions for the elderly and the disabled, but hindsight is 20/20. This argument is largely decided on world view. Those who tend to favor our system come down on the side of compliance, and those who are anti-establishment come down on the side of the protesters/provocateurs. The funny thing is I'm not even sure you can use this across the board. It's specifically tied to political worldview for most.

There are many on this board (from both sides) who would have been arguing the exact opposite if this happened a few weeks ago during the coronavirus protests. I know I wouldn't like it if I saw an old man shoved to the ground because the government was enforcing lockdown measures.

---