If you were say 32 blokes manning a checkpoint and 25 to 35 thousand of the most battle hardened troops Russia could field came through would you really leave the barrier down and say no you can't come through.
Of course not, but the question remains, did they do so thinking they were friendlies or opposed to Putin?
And fwiw, there's no way they had that many all going up to Moscow at once. I'd be surprised if it was more than half that number. The videos showing the convoys advancing gave the impression that they didn't have that many. It would have been too easy for Russia to use their air power to wipe them out if it came to that.
I can't help but think this was staged by a handful of people and they made sure it looked good for the rest of the world. If Poots was serious and if this was real, Prigozhin would have been executed upon capture. Letting him go to Belarus doesn't make a lot of sense unless there was an agreement in place ahead of time. Prigozhin doesn't surrender unless he knows his safety was guaranteed.