Crisis: In some of the pictures I saw, some of the women (and men) were in fact smiling. Regardless, I wouldn’t read too much into smiling in these types of pictures, because it all depends on when the picture was taken, as well as the kind of image the photographer or the website editor wants to convey.
People have a (false) image of charedim as very serious and somber, and perhaps the photographer or editor wanted to go along with that, consciously or unconsciously.
Another thing to consider is that if it’s a several hour event and you haven’t eaten yet, it can be tiring and you’re not going to see most people smiling most of the time.
About the comments on news sites: Everyone should do themselves a favor and never read the comments! That’s the only place anti-Semites have to spread their message. So that’s where they hang out. I don’t think it says anything about the general population.