Tuesday’s dueling Ferguson protests were a tale of two movements.

Those in charge of Tuesday's demonstrations say the two gatherings -- one planned in advance and organized in collaboration with city officials, another spontaneously spun off after some complained the first event was too tame -- highlight the competing priorities of Portland's long-established black leaders and a new contingent who have lost patience with their predecessors' approach.

The rift was visible Tuesday.

In the early evening, more than 2,000 demonstrators gathered for an event organized by the Albina Ministerial Alliance’s Coalition for Justice and Police Reform. Orators decried the Missouri grand jury’s decision not to indict Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager. There were speeches, songs and a short march along a predetermined, city-sanctioned route.

As the demonstration drew to a close, some complained that wasn’t enough. They used a loudspeaker to direct the remaining crowd members back into the streets for a march that strayed far off the original route. They were louder and more confrontational.

“The American justice system has failed us -- I don’t see how you can go down there and do a kumbaya with that type of energy,” said Teressa Raiford, one of several people behind the group known as Don’t Shoot Portland, which is organizing a follow-up rally Wednesday afternoon.

The protesters walked against the flow of traffic in downtown Portland’s one-way streets, then temporarily blocked freeways and Willamette River bridges. Police made seven arrests, and at least one injury was reported from a man who was punched in the face while sitting in his car.

Organizers of the first protest quickly moved to distance themselves from the splinter group, announcing that anyone who acted disruptively was not associated with their group.

"Being confrontational doesn't always mean being in somebody's face trying to intimidate them or use force against them," said the Rev. T. Allen Bethel, president of the Albina Ministerial Alliance. "We don't want anybody in the city believing we were connected to the other part."

Leaders of the offshoot protest argued the first group’s event was more “parade” than demonstration, and criticized the organizers for being too cozy with police.

"They want to castrate any real revolution," said Jessie Sponberg, a Portland activist who joined in the splinter group. They argued Brown's shooting and a subsequent incident in which some Portland police officers posted images on Facebook of the words "I AM DARREN WILSON" over the Police Bureau's badge warrant a more heated demonstration.

Some also said the groups’ competing approaches represent a generational divide between Portland’s old-guard civil rights leaders and a younger generation of activists angered that years of peaceful protests against racism and police misconduct have yielded little progress.

“All the clergy wanted to do was give speeches and sing more songs,” Sponberg said. “Those people didn’t show up to listen to church for two-and-a-half hours.”

But Rep. Lew Frederick, D-Portland, who spoke at the earlier protest, noted that the audience there spanned multiple generations, and was significantly larger than the splinter group. He called instigators of the second march "provocateurs" and said their approach is ineffective.

“They think the only way to handle things is to fight each other,” he said. “It’s a false approach, a distraction, and they need to grow up.”

--Kelly House