Noisy protests to greet world financial leaders

[JoFerret]

http://www.reuters.com/locales/newsArticle.jsp

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Critics of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund gathered on Saturday morning in Washington to greet the world's financial leaders with a noisy appeal for reform.

Organizers said they expected thousands of demonstrators to join the so-called "cacerolazo" rally, modeled after Latin American pot-banging protests. The group will march to a park near the World Bank and IMF headquarters, where the lenders are holding their spring meetings.

Finance ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations are also gathering in the U.S. capital on the sidelines of the semi-annual World Bank and IMF meetings.

Police barricaded several blocks of downtown Washington to control access to the lenders' headquarters and meeting sites. Downtown streets were quiet early Saturday.

Metropolitan Washington Police spokesman Kenny Bryson said no early disturbances had been reported.

"So far it's quiet," he said. "We are not expecting any problems today or tomorrow."

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[mulethree]

1. thats not a link

[Robbien]

2. It sounds as if will be a fun protest.

Protesters planned a "Festival of Resistance" featuring live music and tongue-in-cheek games, including "Pin the Structural Adjustment on the Country."

Mobilization for Global Justice, an umbrella group of activists behind Saturday's protest, advocates wholesale reform of the IMF and World Bank. Its core demands include greater openness in the lenders' decision-making and the cancellation of poor country debt using the bank and fund's own resources.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=4929538§ion=news