The US conservative activist group Americans for Prosperity, funded by the infamous Koch brothers, held an anti-Occupy movement rally in downtown Manhattan Thursday.

The group, meeting at Rockefeller center, says the purpose of the rally was to "stand up to Occupy Wall Street extremists," as well as the Obama administration's handling of the economy -- two disparate targets.

"The Occupy Wall Street crowd is nothing but a fringe element of malcontents bent on mayhem and destruction," stated Steve Lonegan, Americans for Prosperity's New Jersey state director, adding that it was "time that someone stood up to the Occupy Wall Street mob."

The rally is part of an Americans for Prosperity "Obama's Failing Agenda" bus tour traveling across the US ahead of presidential elections on Nov. 6th.