{mosads}However, Bloomberg indicated the protesters would be allowed to stay for now. Previously he has defended protesters’ First Amendment right to express themselves.

“They say, ‘We don’t know what we want but we want it now,'” he said. “But that’s just as good a way of saying it as anything. … They express it by camping out and yelling and and screaming.”

Bloomberg said he does not know if the protests are a “movement” because there is no leader. “It’s the same thing with the Tea Party,” he noted.

The Tea Party movement began several years ago with rallies in various locations around the country and continues to have an influence on politics. Bloomberg has said in the past that Occupy protesters should focus their discontent on Congress, rather than Wall Street.

Protesters have not yet enumerated specific goals, although the number and size of protest demonstrations picked up steam over a month ago.