The only thing these people hate more than working is a bar of soap and a shower.

NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) — Protesters with the Occupy Wall Street movement threatened on Thursday to block efforts to clean up the Lower Manhattan park where they set up camp nearly a month ago, raising concerns of a showdown with authorities.

While New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the protests against economic inequality can continue as long as laws are obeyed, the private owner of the publicly accessible Zuccotti Park said the park needs to be cleaned.

Owner Brookfield Office Properties plans to clean the park where several hundred protesters have been sleeping on Friday, a move that demonstrators believe is a ploy to remove them.

“Seems likely that this is their attempt to shut down #OWS (Occupy Wall Street) for good,” protesters said in a statement on Thursday. “We know where the real dirt is: on Wall Street. . . We won’t allow Bloomberg and the NYPD to foreclose our occupation. This is an occupation, not a permitted picnic.”