An unhinged mob

[John V]

This is when I first heard of them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_Berkeley_protests

On February 1, Milo Yiannopoulos was scheduled to make a speech at the University of California, Berkeley at 8:00 pm. Prior, more than 100 UC Berkeley faculty signed a petition urging the university to cancel the event.[8]

Over 1,500 people gathered on the steps of Sproul Hall to protest the event. The university had been a non-violent, student gathering until a group of 150 black bloc protesters slowly entered the crowd and interrupted the protest.[9][8] The interrupting protesters, which included Antifa activists and some who identified themselves as members of the left-wing group By Any Means Necessary,[10][11] set fires, damaged property, threw fireworks, attacked members of the crowd, and threw rocks at the police.[8] Within twenty minutes of the start of the violence, the Yiannopoulos event was officially canceled by the university police department due to security concerns, and protesters were ordered to disperse.[9][12] The protests continued for several hours afterwards, with some protesters moving into downtown Berkeley to break windows at several banks, a Starbucks, a Target, a Sprint store, and a T-Mobile store.[13][11] Among those assaulted were a Syrian Muslim, who was pepper sprayed and hit with a rod by a protester who said "You look like a Nazi",[14] and Kiara Robles, who was pepper sprayed while being interviewed by a TV reporter.[15] One person was arrested for failure to disperse, and there was an estimated $100,000 in damage.[16]

Doesn't exactly fit your narrative.