Vehicle access for bridge separating Kosovo's ethnic Serbians and Albanians scrapped amid tensions
The plans to open a bridge in the Kosovo city of Mitrovica for vehicle access had been met with controversy amid fears it would escalate ethnic tensions.
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00:00A bridge connecting a Kosovan city's Serbian ethnic minority with the Albanian ethnic majority
00:05will not be authorized for vehicular use amidst rising tensions.
00:11Kosovo's Prime Minister had announced plans to open the city of Mitrovica's main bridge
00:15for vehicles, but since changed his mind.
00:18His decision came following a negative reaction from the city's Serbian community.
00:22With all these issues, it is natural to discuss the opening of the main bridge in the Iberian
00:29Gulf of Mitrovica, for which we are going to make all the necessary consultations, as
00:36well as the work of our state, such as the implementation of the preliminary draft for
00:42the centralization of the physics of the bridge until the final report.
00:48When plans to open the bridge for vehicles were announced, the Serbian community, Belgrade
00:53government, EU and NATO expressed their concern that the move would increase ethnic tensions
00:59and impact the safety of the ethnic Serbs.
01:05After the announcement, hundreds gathered in protest at the bridge, which has become
01:09symbolic of the divided city.
01:12So he knows where the red line is, he knows that the bridge cannot be opened from one
01:19side, and as long as he could push one-sided moves, he pushed them, and it turned out that
01:26he got a lot of that on the ground.
01:33Authorities in Serbia condemned the proposal to open the bridge, saying it was Kosovo's
01:38attempt to provoke conflict.