AITA for suffering an autistic meltdown after my aunt aggressively grabbed my arm in public???

I'm autistic. Last week my aunt randomly grabbed my arm really hard in public and it made me very upset. I asked her why she did that and she didn't respond immediately. I asked her again a few minutes later and she said she did it to protect me. (we were in a store and a guy walked past us. She labeled the guy as homeless, but she only grabbed me hard and not my mom). I have NEVER gotten grabbed and yanked on the arm that hard before, especially from her, so it was unexpected and I got frightened. When she explained why she did it in a somewhat harsh tone of voice (she claimed that she didn’t have time to explain immediately after she did it which I think is bull💩). I was so frightened that I started crying and my mom reprimanded me for "being bad"

Was my reaction valid or was I overreacting?????