IMF/World Bank Protest Details

Photo by Bullneck

As Martin mentioned this morning, the spring meetings of the IMF/World Bank Board of Governors are this weekend, bringing with them the usual street closures and parking restrictions. We've posted the full list of closures below in case you need to refer to them this weekend, but before you read those, we thought you might enjoy a taste of the press release sent around to every local media outlet in town this morning by some of the folks who are organizing this year's protests. NB: the protesters won't reveal exactly where they'll be until early Saturday morning. Also, we're told to expect the protests to include upwards of ... 30 people. Gotta say, the promise of a group of protesters roughly the size of a second grade class doesn't make for a very impressive announcement.

An autonomous group of D.C. residents will be taking action to disrupt the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings on Saturday, April 25th. Angered by world leaders' handling of the economic crisis and the G20's recent decision to empower the IMF with $1.1 trillion in spite of their longstanding track record of ignoring basic human rights and environmental concerns, this group will engage in a variety of actions including traffic blockades, street theater, and roving street occupations.

The actions come in response to a call put out by Global Justice Action, a local activist group organizing protests all weekend long. Their call to "blockade delegates" and to "strategically occupy space" is being met enthusiastically by folks who intend to send a clear message to the architects of the globalized economy: "Capitalism isn't in crisis... Capitalism is the crisis!"

Street closures and parking restrictions, after the jump.