ANDERSON — Civil unrest escalated Thursday while protesters stood outside the construction site of a city fire station and said the workers on the project were not documented as legal United States residents.

Chad Summerall, the owner of Summerall Masonry Inc. in Anderson, organized the protest on Simpson Road and asked a half-dozen people to hold up signs. He is frustrated because he thinks companies have been relying on illegal immigrants to push bids so low his company cannot compete.

Officials for the fire station project have said that the workers are documented as legal residents.

Summerall said that two truckloads of Hispanics drove by protesters on Thursday and angrily asked the protesters to meet them down the street.

He also said that a plumber working on the fire station site told the protesters to “go to McDonald’s and get a job.â€