Madison — After a four-hour hearing that touched on fundamental issues of free speech and assembly, a Dane County judge on Tuesday continued an earlier court order that the state Capitol be open to the public.

Near the end of the hearing, however, Peggy Lautenschlager, attorney for the Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, AFL-CIO, alleged that, while police were restricting access to the Capitol, the administration of Gov. Scott Walker allowed supporters of the governor to enter the Capitol through a tunnel between the Risser Justice Center nearby and the Capitol.

"We have had a number of people who have heard conversations about this," Lautenschlager said after the hearing. "But we don't have access to those buildings or those sorts of things."

Marty Beil, the WSEU's executive director, went further, saying they hoped to provide evidence on Wednesday when Dane County Circuit Judge John Albert reconvenes the case.

Cullen Werwie, spokesman for the governor, said they did not use the tunnel to bring supporters in the Capitol. Judge Albert said he heard enough to want to know more.

Earlier Tuesday, Dane County Circuit Judge Daniel Moeser granted the WSEU a temporary restraining order granting access to the building. The case was then sent to Albert for a hearing, with Lautenschlager pushing for a temporary injunction.

During the afternoon hearing, Lautenschlager presented a total of nine witnesses, all of whom said they were restricted in some way or another from getting into the Capitol.

But Steven Means, an assistant attorney general arguing the state's case, argued that "it's time for the Capitol to be back in business." He argued that the state had the right to impose rules on a building that in recent days has been choked with people, raising issues of health and safety. He added that the state is paying millions of dollars in law enforcement costs.

"What we have is a disagreement over what means an open Wisconsin Capitol," Albert said.

The Walker administration effectively kept the demonstrators out of the building by imposing a policy that limited access to small numbers, despite a court order to open the building.

The Department of Administration issued a new policy Tuesday morning sharply restricting access to the building.

Visitors had to be escorted in the building and limits were placed on the number of people who enter into the Capitol.

All day long, thousands of protesters marched and chanted both indoors and outdoors, although the numbers of demonstrators have diminished since Saturday, when tens of thousands of protesters jammed the Capitol and surrounding grounds.