Yeah as a visitor you don't want to get involved in politics at all. That will be a quick way to get deported or put in jail.
I don't even remember what they were attempting to protest but someone was trying to organize some sort of public protest in the expat community against the government and some Vietnamese people in the group chat said something along the lines of "guys, this isn't Los Angeles, if you do that shit here you are going to jail." I was never going to participate in it anyway but I thought the blunt response was pretty epic.