(WWJ) Activists found themselves at odds with each other on a twelfth day of protests in downtown Detroit.
After word is that not much was accomplished at a meeting of Black Lives Matter protest leaders with Detroit's police chief and mayor, some in the movement are still feeling left out.
"Things got heated...there was a lot of cursing," WWJ Newsradio 950's Vickie Thomas reported, as activists argued outside Detroit Police Headquarters about who is, and is not in charge.
Activist Joanna Underwood criticized rally organizer Tristan Taylor saying he is not the de facto leader of the movement in the city.
"I thought you was a housing activist!" Underwood shouted. "All I'm trying to tell you is you can't say you're the spokesperson for a global movement. You can say you're a protester, and you're representing, and you're in a leadership role, but you're not the leader of nobody — nobody is."
Underwood says other activists in the city have been overlooked by Taylor, who was among a small group to meet with Mayor Mike Duggan and Chief James Craig behind closed doors.
"I tried to talk to (Taylor) several times, and he wouldn't talk to me unless we was on the camera," Underwood said. "He wanted a show so I gave him a show."
Taylor acknowledged there was a disagreement in the activist community, but told Thomas he believes they'll work it out.
Although few details were released about the meeting itself, Nakia Wallace told the group gathered outside DPD HQ a bit about what was discussed.
"They talked a lot about how they agree with us, and they're on our side; and, you know, these things just take longer conversations," Wallace said. "And so they don't plan to come and meet with the crowd. What the mayor said was, 'Well, when we're at a point of progress we'll come out."
The protesters have a list of 23 demands, but were only planning to talk about ten or so. Duggan and Craig said they wanted to hear from the group about what they thought the next steps should be.
"In the end they were like, 'Oh, let's have a follow-up conversation'," Taylor said. "And our insistence was like, yeah, we'd love to have a follow-up conversation that's public and also that's inclusive of all the experts that have been doing work on these issues for a lot time."
After the meeting, protesters again marched through the city, going by the site of the old Tiger Stadium at Michigan and Trumbull Ave. Demonstrations were expected to go on into the night as the mayor declined to extend an 8 p.m. curfew, after protests were peaceful over several days.
Earlier Tuesday, a group of around 400 people marched in Ann Arbor, carrying signs with messages like: "Why are police protected instead of protecting?" and "End police brutality."
All of this comes amid a backdrop of ongoing protests in metro Detroit, across the nation and worldwide following the killing of George Floyd by police Minneapolis. Several officers have been charged in that case, including the one seen on video kneeling on Floyd's neck.
While Floyd's death was the catalyst, demonstrators say they're protesting inequality and unfair treatment of people of color by law enforcement and the criminal justice system over decades.