Protesters aim to silence global trade discussions

Washingtonians have seen it all before and they're not impressed. That's the message the citizens of the nation's capital are sending to protesters at the IMF and World Bank meetings here this weekend.

As the protests got under way earlier this week, dozens of young protesters gathered at a Starbucks coofe shop armed with boxes of soy milk and samples of "free trade coffee", made from beans grown on small farms.

Some people stopped and stared at one protester dressed like a cat. Others accepted a plastic cup of black java and continued along. But most seemed uninterested because this is Washington, where more that 300 pickets, protests, marches and other events take place each year.

This weekend's global trade protests targeting the World Bank and International Monetary Fund's meetings today and tomorrow were expected to draw up to 10,000. Protesters hoped to shut down the talks and the neighbourhoods around them along the lines of the disruptions caused at world trade talks in Seattle last year.

Every day residents and workers are bombarded by vigils and pickets for causes ranging from animal rights, statehood for the District of Columbia to Middle East peace. In this city, where a motorcade bringing President Bill Clinton to a fund-raising dinner can block streets for a half hour, disruptions come with the zip codes. And no one seems to mind.

David Schwier, a 24-year-old Georgetown University law student, has only lived in Washington for nine months but already been a victim of Clinton's travels.

"It's not really a big deal," said Schwier, who has also lived in Boston and New York and says he's used to traffic jams. "It's just part of living in the capital."

Of course, Washington hasn't seen the kind of action that some are expecting this weekend in more than 30 years.

If indeed the capital sees a rerun of the big protests at last year's World Trade Organisation meetings in Seattle, it would be one of the first really disruptive large-scale events since the 1960s, when civil rights and anti-Vietnam demonstrations rocked the area.

While organisers of Rally for Global Justice, the main group behind the planned weekend IMF/World Bank protests, told the National Park Service they expect 5000 participants. Residents and local police are not making any predictions about what may happen. While the number of protesters may be small, they are more organised in tactics of civil disobedience than groups in the past.

Authorities have already closed certain sidewalks and roads. Blockades have gone up around the World Bank and IMF buildings. George Washington University, located a few blocks from the epicentre of the expected protests, has boarded some of its windows.

"Some people are upset at the inconveniences," said police Sgt. Joe Gentile. "It's a nuisance, but the majority of people seem glad we're taking these precautions."

The biggest protests to hit Washington were in the 60s when the biggest anti-Vietnam War demonstration drew a crowd of over 600,000.

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