ST. LOUIS -- “Run! Run for your lives!” the man in the orange jacket yelled, flailing his arms in the air as he made his way down a street in Clayton, Missouri, followed by dozens of people holding signs and chanting. “The protesters are coming!”

Stephen Houldsworth, a 50-year-old resident of downtown St. Louis, didn’t actually fear the demonstrators calling for charges against Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who shot and killed 18-year-old Michael Brown on Aug. 9. He supports their cause and calls the judicial system in St. Louis County “completely out of control.” He also thinks many residents of the St. Louis region have “over-the-top fear” about what will happen once the grand jury seated in Clayton decides whether to indict Wilson in Brown’s death.

“Have you looked at the comments on any of the newspapers? People think the protesters are here to kill babies and eat virgins and do whatever,” Houldsworth, a Boston native who has been in the St. Louis area for 18 years, said in an interview.

So when an organizer asked for volunteers to play the role of “scared white people” at what was called a “Carnival of Injustice” demonstration in the St. Louis County capital of Clayton on Monday, Houldsworth enthusiastically volunteered.

“I’m scared! Lock your doors!” he yelled as he moved ahead of the protesters. “Stay inside!”

The greater St. Louis region is, no doubt, on edge. People around Ferguson are stocking up on guns, factions of the Ku Klux Klan are targeting protesters, and Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon (D) pre-emptively declared a state of emergency.

Along West Florissant Avenue in Ferguson, which was the center of demonstrations in August, nearly every business other than McDonald’s and the Ferguson Burger Bar has been boarded up in anticipation of the grand jury announcement. Blocks away on Canfield Drive, there’s a near constant stream of people coming to view the spot where Brown was killed and take photos of memorials to the teenager.

But as the national media once again descend on St. Louis, both protest organizers and top law enforcement officials are worried about overreaction.http://huff.to/1uF0w75