They should have just called them riots, then. "I remember hearing that in certain protests a couple years ago" or "I remember hearing that in certain riots a

They should have just called them riots, then. "I remember hearing that in certain protests a couple years ago" or "I remember hearing that in certain riots a couple years ago" would both work. The wording as-is is provocative for no actual benefit to the point. Whether you agree with their position or not, it's not really relevant to this discussion to draw attention to the ethics of those protests/riots.