ORLANDO, Fla. -- There were harsh words in and outside of court Tuesday as Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer took the stand in a legal fight over feeding the homeless.

Dyer testified in the federal civil rights trial filed against the city by the group Food Not Bombs. On the stand, Dyer defended the city ordinance that bans mass public feedings in city parks.

Dyer was critical of Food Not Bombs, basically calling the group a sham that is using the homeless to get attention for its anti-war stand and also counterproductive by being an enabler for the criminal or addicted among the homeless.

The Mayor was called to testify by Orlando Food Not Bombs and the expectation was that lawyers for the group would hammer the Mayor over the ordinance. Instead, the mayor was a better witness for the city in defense of the ordinance, which restricts the homeless feedings in city parks.

"I don't view these groups that are the plaintiffs in the case as actual advocates for the homeless," Mayor Dyer said outside the courthouse after testifying. "I view them as using the homeless for their own political purposes."

Other city witnesses told the judge about menacing and criminal behavior they've witnessed during the time surrounding the weekly Lake Eola feedings, such as a homeless man screaming for no reason at tourists feeding swans at the lake with their children, a homeless man defecating on the lawn of a law office less than a block from Lake Eola and using the office hose to shower outside.

An Orlando police officer testified that 19 of the 34 people arrested in the Lake Eola area in early 2006 were transients.

It's not a jury trial. Federal Judge Gregory Presnell said he'll meet again with lawyers from both sides in early August and figure out what other information he might need at that time before deciding whether Orlando's homeless feeding ordinance is constitutional.