Tense in DC

Things here are generally tense. It's not that no one is going outside, hell, i walked by a riot the other day and even stopped to watch a bit. the rioters don't seem to want to hurt anyone. Half of them seem like they really want food, the other seem like they just want to break stuff, which I can sympathize with.  What's more disturbing is the sense you get that things, at any moment, could flip and get real bad.  People seem reigned to it; they pause at the riots, or maybe get upset, but there's this quality of wit until the shit REALLY hits the fan!