Protesters in Oakland discovered two infiltrating disguised thugs and a few attacked them, whereupon one thug pulled out a pistol and pointed it at the surrounding crowd.

I understand that the thug might have felt threatened at that moment — but he should not have been there in the first place.

The thug department says that they infiltrated the protest to "keep the public safe". If they shot protesters, they'd say that was "keeping the public safe" too.