The protesters were determined to ensure the visiting president knew they didn't want him here. Wild scenes erupted as they broke through police lines and blocked the streets. One group surrounded police cyclists and those mounted on horses. Punches were thrown. Demonstrators were photographed being dragged away by officers.

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It was an unfamiliar ugliness on Sydney's streets.

The NSW premier was so frustrated he uttered a line that would be immortalised: "Run over the bastards."

It was almost 60 years ago. The visitor was LBJ, the first US president to visit Sydney. While welcomed by many, he got an angry reception from those opposed to Australia's growing involvement in the Vietnam War. Demonstrators were keen to show that not every Australian wanted to go all the way with LBJ. Turned out they were on the right side of history.

Fast forward to this week and another NSW premier made an equally silly comment in the wake of ugly scenes at a protest over another visiting president. Don't judge the actions of NSW police on a few 10-second videos on social media, he told a media conference. In other words, don't believe what you just saw.

Video of an officer's fists working like pistons on a protester already pinned to the ground. Another of an officer repeatedly punching a bloke in a shirt and tie, his arms raised in surrender. Yet another, taken after the crowd had dispersed, of officers manhandling Muslim worshippers prostrate in prayer - for which the police commissioner apologised yesterday.

It was Chris Minns' Minnesota moment, with the same Orwellian undertone of US federal authorities in the immediate aftermath of the fatal shooting by ICE officers of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They, too, suggested the American public should not believe what they saw.

None of this is to say protesters massed........

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