Protestors prevent reopening of bridge symbolising divisions

(13 Jun 2005) SHOTLIST 1. Army vehicles passing over bridge 2. Wide view of a UN police officer and KFOR troops at the bridge 3. Mid view of KFOR soldier along with dog 4. Wide view traffic along nearby street 5. Wide of men sitting in the shade of a tree 6. Mid view of French KFOR soldiers along street 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Gyorgy Kakuk, UN spokesman "And, about 0920 the local serbs gathered right behind me here in this dolce vita, cafeteria area, small square, moved to the northern bridge head and they blocked the road. Everything was peaceful and this spontaneous demonstration ended at exactly 10 o'clock." 8. Wide view of UN spokesman walking away 9. UN policeman standing next to fence 10. Wide of Northern part of town were Serb's live 11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Larry Miller, UN police spokesman "At zero nine hundred (0900) this morning, the bridge opened as scheduled. The bridge is under the control of the KPS now. It opened, we had some traffic pass going both ways. Then a short time later a rather large crowd gathered at the north side of the bridge in a peaceful protest. Ultimately stopping traffic. There was no more traffic that past. The bridge went back to restricted hours at ten hundred hours (1000). 12. Wide view of UN police standing at bridge 13. Close up of barbed wire 14. Pull out to wide view of bridge through barbed wire STORYLINE A key bridge symbolising Kosovo's ethnic divide briefly reopened on Monday before being blocked off by protesters, according to UN officials. About 250 Serbs blocked off the bridge over the Ibar river in the northern town of Kosovska Mitrovica shortly after it was reopened to civilian traffic at 9 am said Gyorgy Kakuk, a UN Spokesman. The bridge had been scheduled to remain open for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening throughout the week as part of a gradual reopening, said Larry Miller, a UN police spokesman. Over the past six years, the bridge has been the scene of periodic violent clashes between members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, who live south of the river, and the Serb minority living north of it. Last week, NATO peacekeepers handed over control of the bridge to the UN police. The bridge had been closed to traffic since March 2004, when mobs of ethnic Albanians attacked Serbs and their property in violence that left 19 people killed and some 9 hundred injured. Its reopening was an attempt to gradually ease tensions ahead of key talks expected later this year to determine the province's future status. Kosovo officially remains part of Serbia-Montenegro, the union that replaced Yugoslavia. It has been administered by the UN and NATO since mid-1999, following the NATO led war against Serb forces in the province. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...