Reddit is making sitewide protests basically impossible

I'd say that's a kinda a stretch, peaceful protests maybe, but peaceful and legal protests aren't the only type of protest as anyone who knows their history would be aware of. Violent and illegal protests are very much still possible even under this change, and they can very much hurt Reddit depending on how far they go.

Events like this could be considered a type of protest in the future, and while this one didn't do very much damage, ones which are more extreme very well could.

This shouldn't be surprising, do cyber companies think they are immune to the nasty kind of protest just because they can put artificial limits on the peaceful kind? Violent protest has happened all through history, it will no doubt continue into the cyber age, and it may get a whole lot uglier than just a few broken windows or a few cuts and scrapes.