Not the full military, per say- National Guard is controlled by each State’s Governor, but can still be called on and used on the Federal level. This was a State level issue. Not always for “defensive” issues either, usually humanitarian, etc.
I’m not advocating one way or another on the WHY they are there, just pointing out that those armored vehicles are NOT police.
thank you for the insight. In my country Germany it is prohibited to use the military in the interior, except for relief in natural catastrophes. Unfortunately this is something where the right wing nut jobs love to "open the debate" every decade or so.
Don’t know if that is still holding up, but the German ministry of defence put terrorist attacks on the same list as natural disasters in their „Weißbuch“ around 2016. So theoretically we could have, what for historical reason we should never see again: The military enforcing inland. And while in Bavaria climate crisis protesters are held in detention under anti terror law, the picture discussed here could become reality in Germany faster than we might think.