HONG KONG — Most mornings for weeks, in one of the pro-democracy protest camps here, Wong Yeung-tat has berated, mocked and goaded the government and, increasingly, the student protest leaders and democratic politicians he deems too timid.

“The occupy campaign needs to be taken to a new level,” he said in an interview. “There needs to be escalation, occupation of more areas or maybe government buildings. The campaign at this stage has become too stable.”

Mr. Wong’s confrontational, sometimes profane diatribes lie at the heart of a deepening struggle for the soul of Hong Kong’s protest movement. Having taken to the streets nearly two months ago to oppose election restrictions from Beijing, the protesters have become fractured by exhaustion, distrust and polarization over strategy.

Mr. Wong’s organization, Civic Passion, and a tangle of like-minded groups, Internet collectives and free-floating agitators have grown impatient with the milder path supported by most protesters. They argue that only stronger action, such as new occupations, can force concessions from the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party.