Why is everyone surprised …

Nice to have a bit of physical imagery to wave around when you're dealing with a liberal who insists police are these neutral non-partisan agents.

Not that it'll necessarily work, of course. I can already hear some pensioner with a Harris sticker insisting that "um, aktuly, its the union that's being violent and the police who are being civil and restrained". But for the younger and more clear-eyed, its a damning current indictment of a system you mostly just read about in history books.