WASHINGTON — The World Bank's Development Committee started its meetings two hours ahead of the original schedule on Monday as organizers tried to outsmart demonstrators who want to bring Washington to a halt.
Bank officials said events had started with a breakfast at 6:30 a.m. (1030 GMT), moving on at 7:30 a.m. (1130 GMT) to the formal session of the committee, where ministers set World Bank policy for the coming years.
"They have never started this early in their lives," said one official, asking not to be identified.
But Monday's early morning protests, to voice concerns about how the global lenders' policies hurt poor nations, were far more muted than Sunday's large-scale demonstrations.
A few groups of demonstrators sat down in front of the vans carrying delegates into the concrete and glass headquarters of the International Monetary Fund. But buses turned away by the noisy crowds quickly reached the complex by another route.
An IMF security officer said the protesters were "getting creative," gathering in groups of about two dozen and when they saw a car trying to get in, running to try to block it.
The demonstrators, environmentalists, anti-free trade lobbyists, human rights groups and other protesters, say the policies of the World Bank and IMF make poor countries poorer and they want large-scale debt forgiveness and other key reforms.
The Development Committee, chaired by Thai Finance Minister Tarrin Nimmanahaeminda, is discussing debt relief, trade and the fight against AIDS during its meeting, which is scheduled to last all morning.
"Our departure point is the plight of the poor around the world," World Bank President James Wolfensohn said in a message to members. "While some progress has been made in reducing poverty, especially in East Asia, this has been slow and uneven. It remains too slow."