DENVER -- Occupy Denver protesters on Wednesday lost the first round in their lawsuit accusing police of violating their right to free speech when a federal judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order against the city to halt the alleged harassment.

The request by protesters stemmed from a lawsuit filed by seven protesters and supporters claiming they were being harassed and improperly ticketed by police who don't agree with their anti-Wall Street message and want to silence them.

In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Blackburn said the protesters didn't present compelling evidence that Denver police had stepped up enforcement as a way to retaliate.

"Without evidence of the defendant's retaliatory motive, the plaintiffs claim will fail," wrote Blackburn, who has not yet ruled on the lawsuit.

At a hearing on Monday, two people testified they were ticketed for honking a car horn and a hand-held air horn in a show of support for the protests. Another person said he was ticketed for stopping briefly in a no-parking zone to donate warm clothing to protesters.

At least two of those citations have been dismissed, according to testimony.

David Lane, an attorney for the protesters and supporters, accused police of selectively enforcing minor ordinances to retaliate against the demonstrators. He cited city records showing no one was ticketed for "honk-and-wave" events held by the mayor during his election campaign.

Lane produced two documents that he said showed some officers were hostile to the protest.

One was a computer text message sent by an unidentified officer from a squad car that read in part, "A few of us set up a Twitter account to harass the 'Occupy Denver' people."

Lane said the message was obtained by subpoena from the city attorney's office. It wasn't clear if the officer who wrote the text had been assigned to the protest.

The second document was an email from a police lieutenant that included the passage, "... we need to keep going just like this and sooner or later this thing will wear itself out."

Denver Police Patrol Division Chief David Quinones testified that officers have always been given discretion on whether to write tickets for minor violations, and that policy wasn't changed for the Occupy Denver protests.

He said honking horns without an emergency, stopping in no-parking or no-stopping zones, and blocking sidewalks are safety issues.

Assistant City Attorney Wendy Shea denied the city was out to suppress the protests. She said three traffic citations were not enough to warrant a temporary restraining order.

Shea said the protesters haven't shown that the police actions had a chilling effect, noting that the protests were still going on even as the arguments were being heard in court.

She said the traffic and curfew ordinances at the center of the dispute are "content-neutral" and don't single out any group.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock is expected to discuss the lawsuit later today.