Armed militia will not win the fight in raw power terms, but it changes the governments position completely. Unarmed riot can be dispersed using tear gas etc,

Armed militia will not win the fight in raw power terms, but it changes the governments position completely. Unarmed riot can be dispersed using tear gas etc, no need to kill the civilians. Armed riot requires actually killing the opposition. While government will almost certainly succeed in killing the militia the international opinion is wholly different in that case. 10000 person protesters dispersed vs 10000 killed.