There were multiple groups of people there with different levels of involvement, different motivations, and different objectives. Proud Boys stashed weaponry at a hotel in case Trump invoked the Insurrection Act. They were, in their words, happy to have the "normies" beating up a few "pigs", while they executed their coordinated seditious conspiracy, a conspiracy that they believed, in their own words, that they were coordinating with Trump. Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. Come January 6th, its going to be wild. These same Proud Boys gave VIP security to Roger Stone. Michael Flynn calling for invoking the resurrection act and invoking emergency powers to "rerun" the election; Flynn meeting with Trump for hours without WH lawyers present days before Jan 6.
It was a protest, plain and simple.