There seems to be a little of the conspiracy theorist to this or are you playing devil's advocate? So, who was potentially behind this 'carefully managed charade'? Is it true that many were carrying guns (some certainly were), after all, the carrying laws are somewhat stricter in Washington and you can't legally carry guns on at monuments (including prominent through-fares in this case. I'd agree that some people probably just followed the mob and didn't for a minute think of the wider implications, but not so the right wing vigilante groups (I don't like referring to them as 'militias', it confers a level of authority). We saw QAnon & 6MWE sweatshirts, these people didn't think they just on a protest walk.