Just a few meters from the bridge that divides South and North Mitrovica, where cars are not allowed to pass through, the Kosovo government opened a new bridge on Tuesday, despite objections from local ethnic Serbs and warnings from the international community.

Acting PM Albin Kurti said on Facebook on Tuesday morning that “less than two months were needed to construct the 36th bridge in Kosovo over the Iber river. The bridge is open for vehicles as of today from 9am”. Thanking the workers and congratulating the residents of South Mitrovica and North Mitrovica, Kurti announced that work on a new pedestrian bridge nearby will be finished by the autumn.

In June the EU tested the load capacity of the main bridge in the town over which cars cannot drive, to ensure any decision on its use in future is based on current data. At the time, the EU’s office in Prishtina urged Kurti to refrain from any uncoordinated action.

“The EU is closely coordinating with its international partners in Kosovo regarding the future of the bridge,” the office told BIRN. “In the meantime, we call on the Kosovo authorities to refrain from any uncoordinated actions, including the construction of adjacent bridges. All agreements of the Belgrade-Prishtina dialogue, including those related to the bridge, must be fully implemented,” it added.

In early July, Kosovo Serbs gathered in front of the office of the Belgrade-backed Srpska Lista party in North Mitrovica to sign a petition against the construction of the two new bridges which connect the northern Serb-majority part of Mitrovica with the southern Albanian-majority part.

On Tuesday the deputy director of the Kosovo police for the north of the country, Veton Elshani, urged citizens to be “careful and not incite hatred”.

“There is no need to come here and provoke, we have sent the same message in the north so they do not worry, because we are here for everyone’s safety.” Elshani emphasised that it was simply “a bridge for the movement of vehicles and people”, rather than being any kind of symbolic act.

Petar Petkovic, the head of Serbia’s office for Kosovo wrote on X that “the unlawful opening of Kurti’s bridge is a new escalatory move that directly undermines peace” in the north of Kosovo.

“The opening of the bridge tramples on the dialogue agreements and represents a slap in the face to the EU,” said Petkovic. He alleged Kurti “chose to open the bridge today” because it was timed during the visit to Belgrade of Peter Sorensen, the EU special envoy for the Kosovo Serbia dialogue. Petkovic described the move as “a brutal destruction of dialogue!”.