Boston civil rights icon Jean McGuire was given a rousing ovation after testifying against the city’s public-private plan to rehab White Stadium for a pro soccer team, in a break with tradition that highlighted day one of the high-stakes trial. McGuire, a 93-year-old past civil rights leader, ex-School Committee member and plaintiff in a lawsuit that seeks to stop the $200 million project, spoke at length Tuesday about her longtime connection to Franklin Park — where the 76-year-old stadium is located — both as a neighbor and longtime head of the public school METCO program. “I can’t see how you’re going to use this for a professional team when it’s used by the schools and freely used by the public,” McGuire said while on the stand. “It’s kind of a conflict.” McGuire said she lives in Roxbury, about a 10-minute walk from Franklin Park, where it’s not uncommon to find her taking a stroll with her dogs as late as 10 or 11 p.m. She said she’s been going to the park “all my life,” describing the area as “beautiful” and family-friendly, an atmosphere she sees as being threatened by the prospect of a new professional women’s soccer team moving into White Stadium. “It would be difficult for people who don’t live in the area to really pile in here,” McGuire said. “There’s nowhere to park.” McGuire’s testimony concluded with a round of applause, a show of emotion that drew support rather than the standard courtroom rebuke from Suffolk Superior Court Judge Matthew Nestor. “Usually I would stand up and say, ‘No clapping in the courthouse,’ ” Nestor said, as the applause began to die down. To McGuire, the judge said, “Thank you so much. It’s truly been an honor to have you here.” Her testimony was also met with a show of “respect” by the plaintiffs, the City of Boston and Boston Unity Soccer Partners, with attorneys opting not to cross-examine McGuire like the plaintiffs’ other witnesses. “I would not dare cross-examine this witness,” said Gary Ronan, an attorney for the City of Boston, drawing laughter in the courtroom. “We have too much respect for you.” The light-hearted exchange was quickly doused, however, when a City of Boston attorney made a joint motion with Boston Unity Soccer Partners immediately after McGuire’s testimony for a judgment in the case. The city attorney said the plaintiffs, the Emerald Necklace Conservancy and a group of 20 park neighbors, “haven’t put forward evidence to support a ruling in their favor based on” their “Article 97 claim.” The joint motion was made after the plaintiffs’ legal team chose to rest following testimony from McGuire, their fifth witness to testify on Tuesday. It was denied by Nestor, allowing for the trial to continue into a second day, and the defendants to begin calling their own witnesses to the stand. The Article 97 claim mentioned by the city’s legal team is now the basis of what’s expected to be a days-long trial surrounding the city and Boston Unity’s $200 million plan to tear down and rehab Franklin Park’s White Stadium into the home of a National Women’s Soccer League Expansion team. Nestor effectively dismissed the plaintiffs’ other major claim on Monday, as part of his ruling on a number of pre-trial motions by both sides of the lawsuit. The plaintiffs’ now-defunct other argument that the defendants’ proposed use was a violation of the terms of the public charitable trust, or George Robert White Fund, that the city used to purchase Franklin Park in 1947 for the purpose of establishing a stadium on that land. With half their case dismissed on the eve of trial, the plaintiffs were left an avenue to pursue only one of their lawsuit’s two major claims, which is that the proposed for-profit soccer stadium use would illegally privatize protected public land. The plaintiffs say the plan violates Article 97 of the state constitution, which voters approved in 1972 and requires two-thirds approval from the state Legislature for other uses for land and easements taken or acquired for conservation purposes. The city and BUSP have denied the privatization claim, pointing to a lease agreement that sees the city maintain ownership of White Stadium, which the pro team would share use of with Boston Public Schools student-athletes. The claim dominated opening statements from attorneys on both sides of the case. “We think the evidence will show that there will be change of use of the portion of Franklin Park outside the stadium parcel that requires approval of the state Legislature,” Alan Lipkin, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said. Lipkin said the city, in its open space records going back decades, have consistently classified Franklin Park as “protected by Article 97.” Ronan, a city attorney, said the prior classification was due to an error from a prior Boston Parks Department employee, who retired two years ago, “no longer holds that view and is not sure Article 97 applies to this land now.” Those remarks drew jeers from the crowd. That particular reaction, unlike the applause later for McGuire, drew a sharp rebuke from Judge Nestor, who said, “It’s a courtroom. Please be quiet. If you can’t be quiet, you’ll be asked to leave.” Of the Article 97 claim, Ronan said, “Franklin Park is, and will continue to be a public park of the city of Boston. Impacts on a park from construction happening next to the park do not convert a park into something else.” After hearing traffic and public drinking concerns from the plaintiffs and remarks about purported benefits of the rehab project by the defendants, Nestor made it clear he was only interested in the claim that forms the basis of the trial. “A lot of these issues are not before me,” Nestor said. “I’m not here to decide whether this is a good project or a bad project. What is before me is, is this land protected by Article 97? That’s it. That’s the sole issue.” Day 2 of the high-stakes trial, which will determine the fate of the controversial plan championed by Mayor Michelle Wu, will convene at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Wu’s opponent in the mayoral race, Josh Kraft, has called for a pause on the project until the litigation is resolved.