Days are numbered for the hundreds of Occupy Toronto protesters.

City manager Joe Pennachetti said Thursday morning that the city will move in as early as next week.

“Starting next week, we will have more discussions with those people at the site. And we will be moving forward with appropriate steps relative to that site. That will occur starting next week. I’ll just leave it at that for now. We’ll probably have more announcements for you early next week,” he said.

“We’ll have a statement issued early next week, I’ll leave it at that.”

On Wednesday, Mayor Rob Ford indicated his patience was running thin with the protesters in St. James Park.

“They’ve had a peaceful protest but I think it’s time that we ask them to leave,” Ford told reporters at a transit event with Premier Dalton McGuinty.

About 500 protesters are well entrenched at St. James Park at Jarvis and King Sts., co-owned by The Cathedral Church of St. James and the city. They have dug in their heels and tents in preparation for the long haul.

Organizers have said that if the camp is shut down they have been offered several other venues in the downtown area.

On Wednesday in London, Ont., police entered the city’s Victoria Park to remove tents and other structures that formed that city’s Occupy camp.

However, constitutional experts are warning that municipal officials need to tread lightly. Health and safety issues, the most likely rationale for removing an encampment, can’t be used simply as an excuse for quashing freedom of speech and assembly.