Can Buddhism support violence?

There are two identified incidents of violence in sgi's history (ancient and relatively modern) that have troubled me deeply since first finding out about them:

http://theendlessfurther.com/nichiren-the-original-face-of-buddhist-terror/

http://www.mail-archive.com/gohonzonforum@yahoogroups.com/msg00056.html

The first link is an account of Nichiren writing to the Emperor and instructing him to behead the priests who didn't agree with him and burn their temples. The second is a description of an incident in 1958 in which ikeda and some of his ymd thugs physically assaulted a priest, in his 80's mind you, and publicly roughed him up pretty badly.

I find it impossible to reconcile these actions within the context of acceptable Buddhist behavior. They completely undermine the idea that either nichiren or ikeda should be viewed as individuals who should be admired or followed.