I like Shelly hardware. The devices default to local communication and cloud is optional. Custom firmware can also be used, but not really needed. I wished they made more kinds of IoT stuff.
Since the device state can be queried with HTTP requests, it’s easy to integrate it to my monitoring system (Prometheus/Grafana).
Usually, they can, if there are risk of violence appearing. You’re allowed to protest peacefully, but the current situation suggests the protest would be based on anger and maybe provocation.