The Portland City Council heard testimony Thursday on an ordinance that would give Mayor Ted Wheeler vast new powers to regulate protests, an idea that dozens of residents told city officials is wrongheaded.

Wheeler said frequent protests that predictably erupt into brawling fistfights between demonstrators have driven him and Police Chief Danielle Outlaw to seek the new restrictions.

Those protests are bad for Portland's brand and affect business and tourism, the mayor said. Moreover, he said they are dangerous for attendees and police officers who attempt to keep the peace.

"I have watched with increasing dismay what's unfolding on our streets," Wheeler said, calling his proposal a way to "provide one more tool along with enforcing existing laws."

If enacted, it would allow him to dictate, for example, where and when certain groups could rally.

Outlaw said her Police Bureau has had no choice but to react to violence at demonstrations after the fact, rather than to prevent it. "The community is fed up," she added.

It's unclear if Wheeler and Outlaw have enough support from council members to enact the proposal, and the mayor and city commissioners did not vote on it Thursday.

Commissioners Amanda Fritz and Chloe Eudaly have said they will vote no, while Commissioner Dan Saltzman has said he will vote yes. Commissioner Nick Fish, the swing vote, has said he is undecided and did not indicate his stance Thursday.

If adopted, the new limits would allow Wheeler, who is the police commissioner, to set the conditions for public gatherings. He could do so only if three conditions are met: If a group that wants to protest has a history of violence, the safety of participants or bystanders is at risk and there is a substantial probability of violence at the event.

That kind of regulation may not pass constitutional muster, two law professors who are free expression scholars told The Oregonian/OregonLive after reviewing the text of Wheeler's proposal.

Kimberly McCullough, policy director of the American Civil Liberties Union office in Oregon, told the council her organization believes the ordinance is vague, does too much to limit free speech and vests unnecessary power in the mayor.

"With these kinds of regulations, the devil is in the details, and the details are incredibly problematic here," McCullough said.

Wheeler has said he believes the proposal is legal, but acknowledged it would all but certainly be challenged in court.

Almost no one spoke in favor of the mayor's proposal except Andrew Hoan, the Portland chamber of commerce president, and state Rep. Janelle Bynum, a Democrat who represents parts of east Portland.

Instead, dozens of residents, each afforded two-minute slots to testify, delivered critiques of city police officers' behavior at protests as the chief and her deputies sat feet away.

They accused police leaders of bias in favor of right-wing groups and using unnecessary force against peaceful demonstrators. Instead of creating new regulations, the police should enforce existing laws intended to stop bad actors, they said.

Eudaly sided with those speakers, and peppered Outlaw and her top advisors, Deputy Chief Bob Day and Assistant Chief Ryan Lee, with question after question about their officers' conduct during protests.

The officers mostly did not answer Eudaly, citing pending lawsuits, audits and internal reviews against their Police Bureau.

-- Gordon R. Friedman