New York mayor warns wall street protesters are harming economy

New York officials increased warnings Friday that Wall Street protesters were harming New York''s tourism and economy, on their third week of camping in a Lower Manhattan park. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued his harshest criticism yet of the occupants of Zuccotti Park, which is blocs away from the financial district on Wall Street. "They''re trying to take away the tax base we have, because none of this is good for tourism," Bloomberg said. "What they''re trying to do is take the jobs away from people working in this city," Bloomberg added, a day after US President Barack Obama voiced sympathy with the protesters. "If the jobs they are trying to get rid of in this city (go) - the people that work in finance, which is a big part of our economy - we''re not going to have any money to pay our municipal employees or clean the blocks or anything else," Bloomberg added. Obama said Wednesday that people were frustrated by the current state of the economy.