WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Some `` Occupy '' demonstrators who 've clashed with police in New York City have migrated south as the new year begins , joining their colleagues in the nation 's capital where authorities continue to allow protest camps at two locations . `` We 're here because we got pushed out of New York , but we 're also here because this is the heart of where all politics happen , '' said a protester who would not give his name . `` Police know me , '' he explained , as he tried to repair a tarp torn free by high winds early Monday . He said he has been joined by a handful of other Occupy Wall Street demonstrators pushed out by New York police . On New Year 's Eve , New York City police arrested 68 Occupy Wall Street demonstrators at their longtime camp in Zuccotti Park . The young man , who said he left the Wall Street location weeks ago after authorities began to pressure protesters to leave , reflected on a strategy for the new year as he spoke Monday at the larger of two encampments in Washington -- at a small downtown park known as McPherson Square , near the White House . `` I think ( the movement 's ) most important stage right now is to inform the American people , before we can give any kind of particular answer or one message , '' he said . `` This is still , relatively , in my opinion , a young movement , and I do n't think it 's so much that it 's anybody having the same answers but everybody asking the same questions right now , '' he told CNN , speaking on camera with most of his face concealed by a heavy winter scarf . Among the questions being asked include those from a ranking U.S. congressman , Rep. Darrell Issa , R-California , demanding to know why protesters have been allowed to make camp in the first place . Issa , in a letter two weeks ago to the U.S. Department of Interior , said he believes the camping is illegal . But the National Park Service , which is in charge of McPherson Square , has applied the most liberal interpretation of rules against overnight camping , and officials instead consider the makeshift tent city a `` 24-hour vigil . A handwritten bulletin board maintained by the protesters Monday noted it is `` Day 93 '' of the demonstration there . At a second location in Washington , known as Freedom Plaza , the National Park Service in recent days extended a required permit through the end of February , acting just before it was to expire on New Year 's Day . The extension may further provoke Issa , who chairs a House panel on government reform . His December 13 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expressed concern that the tent city in McPherson Square has ruined some of a $ 400,000 restoration project at the park , paid for with economic stimulus money . Issa said the National Park Service has allowed `` the Occupy DC movement to ecologically damage the park significantly over the past two months , by camping and killing the newly planted grass '' at the location . Protest organizers and supporters have distributed straw around the tents to deal with mud that followed heavy rains last month . Other areas where grass remains now show signs of damage from the tents and tarps blocking sunlight . National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson told CNN the protesters in McPherson Square do not require a permit because their group contains fewer than 500 people and is considered a 24-hour vigil . Police in the area have said their enforcement so far has been to keep city streets clear of protesters , and to respond to petty crime that may take place around the camps . CNN 's Greg Seaby contributed to this report .
Occupy Wall Street demonstrators migrate south . The protesters are protesting the U.S. government's handling of a massive financial crisis and its response to it. Congressman questions continued forbearance .