in the countries where the majority of protesting is taking place, do they have a deeply seeded belief in free speech?

That is a good question. I don't know the answer, but offhand I would probably say no, or at least mostly no. It's my understanding that most European countries, at least, don't place nearly the emphasis on it that we do. (I'm thinking mostly of the Holocaust denial trials -- nothing like that could happen in the US, could it?)