The way passengers reacted was of course inappropriate and offending, even if I refuse to believe that all passengers participated and so some of them got "punished" unfairly.
It s normal that crew members felt offended but they reacted a bit impulsive by refusing to make that flight and let it be canceled. I wonder about the captain in charge! Either he is an impulsive young captain that let his ego take that decision or an one close to retirement that miss old times when both passenger and crews were much more mannered and less stressed than nowadays!
Anyway...this attitude " they hit me I hit back" is not a wise one !
Because of the "lesson" crew gave to the "bad" passengers, maybe some passengers got in troubles harder to be fixed than the crew ego!
Valid for both parts ( pax and crew) : use bit more your brain and good sense and let aside impulsive reaction and silly revenges!!
Behave yourself people! So we can pretend we live in a civilized world!