Police have institutional memory. For example a demo in Trafalgar Square. For more than a century the authorities have known how to control that space.

If their masters want a riot in order to discredit the protest then that can be arranged. If they want the protest to be a damp squib then that can be arranged.

The protest will be made up of participants that were not there twenty years ago. They are newbies. They will behave predictably.

I suggest the author look to the history of protest rather than Africa's Rift Valley.