There was the incident of a protester holding a boombox over their head, and getting shot in the face with a "less lethal" munition that cracked their skull.

Another where a person was riding their bike away from a protest and got hauled into an anonymous van and held without cause.

Self defense is ok, these actions are not. One "protester" being violent does not warrant collective punishment of all/any protesters. It warrants defense from, and the arrest of, the violent ones.

Except citizens get prosecuted, fired, judged as to weather or not it was indeed a justified use of force. The pd does not have any such accountability or review.

Calling the police's capacity for violence merely "the right to self-defense" is absurd. Qualified immunity goes so far beyond the rights of normal citizens that there really is no possible comparison. Not even the fever dreams of the most radical libertarian encompass qualified immunity for civilians.

The police in the United States are a paramilitary force, equipped with military gear, and in many cases with military training -- the only thing military thing they don't have is the uniform code of military justice, which forbids things like the use of chemical weaponry and war crimes.