“Naturally, violence was the only resort.”
As the actor Kevin Sorbo recently pointed out on Facebook: when words don’t work anymore, when the validity of speech is rejected, all you have left is violence.
Those are my word, but his point is well taken and, as you indicate, demonstrated by this “news story”.
In other words, when it becomes impossible to talk any sense into them you hope you can walk away without resorting to any violence.