Protesters gather annually in D.C. during International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings; but, this weekend’s scheduled protests offer a different outlet for people to speak out.

Hosted by the Self Described Anarchist Collective, the Anticapitalathon will run from April 23 to April 25 and will include a wide range of athletic events, aimed toward symbolizing different issues associated with the actions of each organization. Anarchist Collective has scheduled a 5K Run on the Bank to the IMF and World Bank, a group jog to the World Bank building downtown.

“So while the banks take our money and run, and Mayor Fenty just runs, we too are running, in order to highlight corporate cronyism and economic despair,” SDAC’s Web site said.

The weekend will also feature a soccer match with an inflatable Earth-shaped ball being kicked around by street theater actors dressed as IMF and World Bank officials, according to the Web site’s schedule of events.

The IMF and World Bank meet in Washington, D.C., every spring. This year, in anticipation of the meetings and protests, the Metropolitan Police Department has announced that along with parking restrictions, streets around the headquarters of the IMF and World Bank will be closed from about 7:30 p.m. on Friday until 5 p.m. on Sunday. The 18th, 19th and 20th streets NW will be closed from G Street to Pennsylvania Avenue, as will the southern side of H Street. This may affect some of the Anticapitalathon’s scheduled events, such as the trip to the World Bank headquarters.

Although he will not be participating in this weekend’s activities, Ian Villeda (SFS ’11) took part in a protest at the IMF last summer and described it as a very rewarding experience. He said he believes these protests are effective and make a difference in the IMF’s policies.

“The IMF has actually responded to protests raised in the past. The movement against the IMF is not very strong in the United States and Europe, but there’s a huge ground flow [of protest against the IMF] in other countries,” Villeda said.

While the Anticapitalathon consists of unusual sporting activities, the seriousness of the charges that the SDAC levels against the IMF and World Bank will not be overlooked, according to an organizer of the Anticapitalathon, Nicholas Zinzer. He described some of the complaints against the IMF and World Bank in a statement on SDAC’s Web site.

“The IMF and World Bank are responsible for saddling struggling economies with unmanageable debt, driving billions deeper into poverty through the badly named `poverty reduction’ programs and threatening countries who refuse to follow their austerity programs with economic blacklisting and isolation,” Zinzer said.

– Hoya Staff Writer Jeff Cangialosi contributed to this report.