“I want to know about my rights to use that park,” the woman said. “This is our little sliver of greenery that we reclaimed after Sept. 11. It’s now unusable. There is a general presence of incivility down there. But worst of all are the drums and shouting.”

Mr. Bloomberg responded: “We are trying to deal with this in a way that doesn’t make the problem grow and protects everybody’s rights.”

Several businesses said they had no choice but to respond to the influx of protesters by closing bathrooms.

Mike Keane, who owns O’Hara’s Restaurant and Pub, said that the theft of soap and toilet paper had soared and that one protester had used the bathroom but had failed to properly use the toilet. Both Ms. Tzortzatos, owner of the Panini and Company Cafe, and Mr. Keane said the protesters rarely bought anything, yet hurled curses when they were told that only paying customers could use their bathrooms.