Today, I was rather violently accosted by a rather intriguing gentleman

[Ironside]

No, he was clearly a bully looking for trouble. A victim generally might get upset, might mention something then walk away and at first this might have the case as he failed to understand the crux of the discussion. However, from the rest, you can see how the gentleman was clearly sizing the group up, he was trying to examine their reactions and like a predatory animal wanted to use raw physical strength to make himself feel powerful. I do know what Hax looks like and he is no stone cold Steve Austin, anyone who wants to try to get him into a street brawl is clearly trying to pick for an easy target.

It could be subconcious (probably is), but yeah anyone who is avoiding an actual debate for trying to start a beating instead is certainly acting like a bully.

Authorities generally don't do anything, unfortunately, as they are mostly hand-tied with what they can do.

They do get a bit less limitations if there's a pattern at least. So if this is standard behavior for our intriguing gentleman, then they can have better enforcement than a few stern words.