The Israeli president has arrived in Canberra, welcomed with a 21-gun salute at a heavily guarded Government House as he continues his contentious Australia tour.

Isaac Herzog was met by senior politicians, including Speaker Milton Dick, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Jewish MP Mark Dreyfus, as well as Australia’s special envoy to combat anti-Semitism Jillian Segal and Governor-General Sam Mostyn.

Herzog, accompanied by his wife Michal, was welcomed by a ceremonial 21-gun salute from the Federation Guard and followed it with an inspection of the guard.

His arrival in the capital followed violent clashes in Sydney between police and demonstrators protesting against Herzog’s visit, with hundreds more  protesters gathered on the lawns of Parliament House on Wednesday.

Security was bolstered at Government House, and snipers could be seen on the roof of the governor-general’s residence. Arrivals were closely monitored and only pre-approved people were allowed in ahead of Herzog’s arrival.

Protesters stationed at the Government House lookout could be heard yelling in the background.

Mostyn said she was delighted to welcome the Herzogs and presented them with a photo of Herzog’s father, Chaim Herzog, during his trip to Australia in 1986, when he stayed at Government House.

Herzog said he was honoured to see his father’s photo in the residence.

“This is a great moment in relations between our nations,” he said.

“I know how much you spend time in consoling and supporting the Jewish community.”

Herzog said both Australia and Israel “share the need to fight anti-Semitism with no doubts … so we uproot this phenomenon”.

Pro-Palestinian protesters held banners in front of Parliament House. Photo: Mike Bowers

The Israeli president will attend multiple events in Canberra, including formal meetings with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Ley, before travelling to Melbourne on Thursday.

Amid the ongoing protests, senior politicians continued to defend the official trip.

Federal minister Mark Butler said despite the violent clashes between police and protesters in Sydney, the invitation to Herzog to visit after the Bondi terror attack was necessary.

“This was a very clear request from a grieving Jewish community, and it’s one we listened to,” he told ABC TV on Wednesday.

“It’s been already an enormous source of comfort and solace to a community that is grieving and is frightened. And so we recognise the importance of that.

“We thought it was important to invite the president to provide that comfort to a community that is going through such a painful period.”

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the invitation to Herzog was reasonable following the Bondi attack.

“He is the head of state of a country which, while we have differences, we have very friendly relations over a long period of time,” he told ABC Radio.

“This is a time to dial the temperature down, dial the heat down, rather than allowing this visit to become an occasion for increasing the division and tension that we’ve seen too much of.”

Albanese hosted Herzog for dinner at Kirribilli House on Tuesday night.

It followed the two leaders attending the Chabad of Bondi synagogue, where they met with the families of Bondi victims.

“The terrorists sought to instil fear in the Jewish people – we will respond with renewed Jewish pride,” Herzog told the congregation.

“They sought to turn our festivals into mourning – we will come together, determined and unified, to celebrate our traditions, our heritage, our people.”

Earlier on Wednesday, ACT independent senator David Pocock said the government should not hold a meeting with Herzog during his visit to Canberra.

“The Prime Minister said this visit was about bringing unity – clearly that has not happened. We’ve seen police crackdowns on protesters; we’ve seen more disunity,” he said.

“The government needs to admit this was a mistake.”

It comes as police could face legal action after punching and pepper-spraying protesters during a Sydney rally against the Israeli president’s visit to Australia. Officers were seen beating, pushing and deploying pepper spray at a Monday demonstration held after Herzog arrived in the city.

A group of Muslim men were filmed kneeling and praying before being pushed and dragged away by police, with Australia’s special envoy to combat Islamophobia Aftab Malik saying they were not angry but “scared”.

Malik described the force’s actions as “disgraceful” and “appalling”.

NSW Premier Chris Minns has repeatedly defended police, saying they faced “incredibly difficult” circumstances.

But Malik said he was brought to tears when the Premier failed to call out a controversial line of questioning in a television interview that suggested the men had been “baiting” police when praying.

“The Premier should have pushed back and said … ‘I don’t agree with that characterisation’, and had he said that, things would have been different,” he told the Senate on Tuesday night.

“But unfortunately, he responded the way he did, and this is part of the normalisation in which day-by-day, Muslims are being degraded  … it’s the ordinariness of Islamophobia destroying the dignity of Muslims who are legitimate citizens like anybody else.”

NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon said he had apologised to senior members of the Muslim community for any offence caused.

But he also continued to defend the actions of police, who had been instructed to clear protesters from Sydney Town Hall.

Protesters have vowed not to be intimidated by police, while former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has hit back at those criticising her for chanting “globalise the intifada” at Monday’s rally.

Footage of the police’s behaviour, which has been widely circulating online, could cause reputational damage, one expert said.

“Civilians see this kind of violence so rarely in Australia, but when we do, it’s shocking,” University of Newcastle criminologist Justin Ellis told AAP.

“Police are going to have to deal with any reputational fallout.”

–AAP