Protest at the IMF/Word Bank meetings in DC today

[G_j]

http://dc.indymedia.org/
http://www.globaljusticeaction.org/

April 23-26, 2009

Washington DC

Breaking the Bank: As Neoliberalism Comes Crashing Down, Institutions that caused the mess should go with it!
The World Bank and IMF will be holding their annual joint Spring Meetings April 24-26 in Washington DC. As they try to save themselves from the global financial crisis that their neoliberal policies brought us, we know better than to let them have all the fun without us. Join Global Justice Action to oppose these institutions, resist the dominant global order, and show that a better world is possible, free from neoliberalism, capitalism, and imperialism.

Click here for the full call to action

Friday April 24th 11:30 AM: 5k Run on the Bank - take a lunchtime run to the World Bank, meet at Malcolm X Park at 11:30 AM. Followed by a 1pm rally and press conference at Murrow Park.

Saturday April 25th AM: Direct Actions - disrupt the start of the IMF/World Bank meetings with blockades and unpermitted marches

Saturday April 25th 1pm-9pm: People's Economic Forum - Join us for an all day forum to learn and discuss the causes of the financial crisis, the role of the IMF and World Bank, and alternatives to the current system. St Stephens Church, 1525 Newton St NW (corner of 16th & Newton)

Sunday 2pm: March & Rally - permitted rally and march starting at Dupont Circle and ending in front of the World Bank

[Stinky The Clown]

1. That sounds like a good reason to stay out of DC today.

[Captain Hilts]

2. Indeed. nt

[G_j]

4. it appears things got a bit messy yesterday

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/25/AR2009042501336.html?hpid=topnews


A Day of Vandalism, Violence
IMF-World Bank Protesters Clash With Police, and 2 Buildings Are Damaged

By Michael Alison Chandler, Aaron C. Davis and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, April 26, 2009

Two bank branches in Logan Circle sustained more than $110,000 in damage before dawn yesterday when at least 15 people dressed in black used bricks, hammers and sticks to smash windows, smearing red paint symbols that denounced the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, police said.


Security cameras in the 1400 block of P Street NW captured images of the vandals racing down the sidewalk at 5:20 a.m., residents said. As they went, they spilled red paint, which police say was later found streaked on the soles of several suspects' shoes and on their clothes.

The scale of vandalism was highly unusual, even in a city where political demonstrations are commonplace and sometimes unruly. Six people were arrested, and another person was charged later in the day when police clashed with almost 200 demonstrators.

The day's events were a prelude to a protest planned for today, the largest of several timed to coincide with the IMF and World Bank's spring meetings in Washington. Organizers expect more than 500 people to gather at 2 p.m. at Dupont Circle.

Yesterday, a two-hour demonstration through downtown ended near the IMF headquarters on 19th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW, where police tried to force the protesters off the street and then used pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

One protester was taken to a hospital with a splint on his leg. Dozens of others, along with a police officer, were treated at the scene for burning skin and eyes. A 22-year-old demonstrator was arrested after kicking a police officer who had fallen off a bicycle, police said.

Police said they believe that the vandalism at the banks -- a PNC branch and a Wachovia branch -- was associated with the groups that organized the protests later in the morning, although several demonstrators denied involvement.

<snip>

[Captain Hilts]

3. Things to do: Ignore some of the good work the World Bank has done.

The World Bank was the only support for the national employment system in Russia in the early 1990s and it ran some terrific development projects up the Volga as well.