Proposed new rules meant to help police handle G-20 protests faced a barrage of verbal rotten eggs yesterday at a Pittsburgh City Council public hearing, and appear to be headed for a close vote.

The hearing was held to get views on rules that would allow police to cite people wearing masks or carrying items from pipes to high-powered rifles if they appear intent on thwarting police dispersal orders. It became an outlet for concern about what some called the pending militarization of Downtown, and what others characterized as the demonization of protest.

"The real message that I'm hearing is that Pittsburgh welcomes the world, except those who choose to dissent and exercise their free-speech rights," said David Meieran, a veteran protester, who then donned a polar bear mask while addressing council.

"Take that off, it's illegal," quipped council President Doug Shields.

"Why am I wearing this polar bear mask, you might ask," Mr. Meieran said. "It may be that I want to commit a crime, or it may be that the ice upon which polar bears are depending is melting as we speak."

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's administration proposed the ordinances. It has also announced conditional approval of protest applications, but has said that it must withhold full approval until the security perimeters for the summit at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center are determined by the Secret Service.

Witold Walczak, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, called the no-mask ordinance "unnecessary, and an invitation to problems" and cited a history of anonymous protest that runs from the Boston Tea Party.

Some council members were unclear on how they'd vote on the ordinance; others opposed it.

"When my vote comes down, you'll see my vote as upholding the Constitution of the United States," said Councilwoman Darlene Harris.

Mr. Shields said that if council approves the mask rule, he'll buy 5,000 paper bags, cut eye holes in them, and get people to march through Downtown wearing them.

A provision in one of the two proposed ordinances invokes a 1993 city ban on "assault weapons" that has since been quashed by the General Assembly. A few speakers, and Mr. Shields, said the run-up to the Sept. 24-25 summit of leaders of industrial powers was the wrong time to revisit the gun rights issue.

Many speakers yesterday complained that Pittsburgh is extending the red carpet to leaders who are taking the world down a perilous course, while putting up an iron curtain against those concerned about war, economic justice or the environment.

"We are not terrorists, sirs or madams, we are not," said Cecilia Wheeler, of Knoxville, a member of the Thomas Merton Center. "We are the good apples here. We want [summit delegates] to see overall that this is a small town with values, that welcomes everyone, that discriminates against no one."

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