The annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have drawn once again protestors opposed to radical neoliberal economic globalization to D.C.

In what one Indymedia writer termed the “World Bank/IMF season opener” a group led a picket of the U.S. Treasury at noon today, posting some photos on Indymedia. (Including the photo to the right) It seems likely the protests tomorrow will be small, if the discussion thread on a post announcing the weekend’s protests is any indicator. One person asks “Where is everyone..there is nobody out here…..” while another calls the are around the IMF and World Bank a “god awful mess,” informing us he

“was driving in from my work in NoVA and was planning to swing by the protests and snap off some shots for the newswire. Getting around was hard enough, and parking was impossible, what with the gridlock, closings, and large number of metered spaces that were marked off for the time period.

The substantial security measures, described by this Common Denominator article, include removing newspaper boxes, closing parking garages, and closing the area bounded by 17th, 20th, F and I to all pedestrian traffic except for residents.

Ironically, although the sound and fury of protestors has largely disappeared in recent years from IMF and World Bank meetings due to security crackdowns, the U.S. government is seriously considering some of the measures activists have been demanding for years in the wake of a broad re-evaluation of the impact on global economic policies on the world’s poorest nations. (Including debt relief, made famous by Bono)