You made some good points. But I still believe the "yahoos" didn't have enough on-the-ground guidance to take things to the point of martial law being declared. Maybe not a true insurrection, but for sure a constitutional crisis.

Australia went through one of those events in the 1970s when it was not certain who was is charge. They seemed to have muddled through it.

If the police had been called earlier, all this would be mostly a moot point. But the police were not called in early. Why not?