aimixin:

Every state seeks to preserve itself and so every state will use authority when it is faced with potential destruction. This is not inherently a bad thing, it obviously depends on the government in question, and who is trying to destroy it, and why. People who always justify the use of authoritarian means used by whoever they support, and then those who are intellectually dishonest pretend that somehow their use of authority isn't "authoritarian".

and:

You aren't paying attention. Democracy is authoritarian. It is the means by which the democratic will of the people express its authority, by means of force. What happens if someone picks up a gun and tries to oppose the democratic consensus? Do you just sit by and let the democracy be destroyed? No, the democratic state uses its own authority to oppress the opposition.

There is no such thing as a distinction between "democracy" and "authoritarian". It's a meaningless buzzword. The opposite of a democracy is an autocracy or an oligarchy, not "authoritarian". That's just something westerners fling at other people's democracies which they don't like for daring to vote for something against US interests and want to see them blown up and millions killed and displaced.