Small-scale entrepreneurs from the Manhattan neighborhood near the Occupy Wall Street camp on Monday begged the movement to abandon its nearly two-month-old protest, saying it was ruining business.

A small gathering of fed-up businessmen on the steps of City Hall urged Mayor Michael Bloomberg to act against what they said were the dangerous side-effects of a protest claiming to defend America's 99 percent against the super-elite one percent.

"It's a disaster," said John Costalas, owner of the family-run Essex World Cafe, describing how protesters from their tent camp in Zuccotti Park use his restaurant's bathrooms to wash and use the toilet.

"They come in there and bother you. They take the toilets, they take baths, and then the customers don't want to come," he said. "That's not the 99 percent. We are the ones who work 15 hours a day, seven days a week just to pay the landlord and the rent. We're the 99 percent."

Fong Zhao, manager of the Hoyip Chinese restaurant for the last 18 years, said he was also angry.

He complained that protesters -- whose urban tent camp lacks adequate toilet facilities -- deposited sacks of excrement outside the Hoyip.

Showing a video taken on his phone of a woman putting a white bag next to his restaurant's black garbage bags, Zhao said: "You're not allowed to throw that away -- not like that. I can get fined."

Echoing other frustrated locals, the immigrant entrepreneur said police barricades erected in nearby streets to control demonstrators hampered his supply chain. "It's slowing down business. It's hard for deliveries because of the police barriers," he said.

Zhao said he was "in the 99 percent" and sympathized with OWS attacks on corrupt bankers and politicians. But he said he believed the protest camp, which started on September 17, had been hijacked.

"I sympathize with what they stand for, but now it's become more of a chaotic crew."

The rally by half a dozen business owners and managers appeared only loosely organized. But those participating said they wanted to be heard after all the attention paid to the several hundred demonstrators camping at Zuccotti Park, surrounded by police.

The New York camp looks set to celebrate the start of its third month on Thursday. Similar protests across the United States have run into serious trouble over the last two weeks.

Several deaths have occurred in camps, both health-related and in an apparently accidental shooting. And police have clashed with protesters in Portland, Oakland, Denver and other cities.

Although the New York camp remains peaceful and protestors insist they are reaching out to the local community, another restaurant owner called on Bloomberg to send in the police.

Marc Epstein, who opened the Milk Street Cafe near the New York Stock Exchange this summer, said that as a result of protest-related police barriers and other disruption, sales had dropped about 20 percent.

He has laid off 20 of his nearly 100-strong staff.

"I have no issue with their political opinions," he said of OWS. "I have an issue with their tactics. They're putting people out of work -- it's ironic!"

"I'm telling you: if Occupy Wall Street doesn't end soon, and those barriers don't come down, all those jobs are at risk," he said. "I want the mayor to remove the protesters. I want it to be done as peacefully as possible."

That was echoed by one resident in the pricey neighborhood, Linda Gerstman, who came to City Hall to complain that that politicians were not listening to their constituents.

"We feel at this point we're completely abandoned," she said. "I want illegal activity stopped and that includes the encampment."