UPDATED at 9:05

Fighting, yelling and flag-burning broke out steps away from the Waterfront Blues Festival as competing protesters gathered and added to the action Friday along the Willamette River.

It was hard to tell who was there to protest and who was walking by on the way to the five-day festival's opening night, but dozens of people had out their cellphones to capture various skirmishes between supporters of the right-wing Patriot Prayer group and counter-protesters, some dressed in black.

Patriot Prayer planned a two-hour "Freedom March" at Tom McCall Waterfront Park with "a small amount of speeches to promote freedom and courage," according to the Facebook page promoting the event. "Fear will not silence Americans in these liberal strong holds. Please bring your best behavior."

Rose City Antifa organized an opposition rally called "Enough: Stop Patriot Prayer Now!" "We will not allow our community to be overrun by fascists and those who make excuses for them," its Facebook page said.

During the two-hour demonstration, about 200 people mixed at the park. Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson led his group on a march along the river and counter-protesters trailed behind, chanting and drumming. The march paused intermittently for speeches, allowing the opposing groups to mingle, argue and yell.

Though most demonstrators had passionate but peaceful conversations, at least three scuffles broke out between the two groups. At one point, a handful of people were pepper-sprayed by other demonstrators. Another fight started after some protesters burned flags, with several people shoving and punching each other. One man tried to hit others with a broken flag pole.

Other protesters intervened to stop the fights, though, and police were nowhere in sight.

A rally June 4 by Patriot Prayer organizers drew a bigger crowd to downtown Portland near City Hall. Portland police said counter-protesters threw rocks, bottles, marbles and more at the rally-goers. They arrested more than a dozen people.

Fighting breaking out again on the waterfront @Oregonian pic.twitter.com/w0cg8q0TGv — Liv (@Liv_Kathryn) July 1, 2017

-- The Oregonian/OregonLive