Several hundred residents of the village of Priluzje near Vucitrn in north-eastern Kosovo-Metohija, have gathered Wednesday for the third day in a row to protest against the construction of a bridge over the Sitnica River, which would enable Albanians from villages at the foot of Mt Cicavica to reach the major read Pristina-Mitrovica through Priluzje.

The people living in Priluzje set up a crisis staff late Tuesday, and Wednesday they started signing a petition demanding that the construction works on this bridge be stopped or that it be moved more to north, towards Vucitrn.

The petition will be forwarded to the UN, KFOR and the Vucitrn authorities.

The Serbs in Priluzje are afraid that, as they put it, once Albanians are able to go through their village, there will be provocations and security threats.

President of the Serb Vucitrn municipality Zoran Rakic told Tanjug that the crisis staff has decided to continue staging protests, and that several days ago they informed KFOR Commander Erhard Buehler about their concerns.

Buehler voiced his readiness to ensure a constant presence of KFOR in that area.

Serbs requested from the KFOR Commander to stop the construction of the bridge, or move it more to the north, towards Vucitrn.

Buehler told residents of Priluzje that he cannot stop the construction works.

Around 2,500 Serbs live in Priluzje, and on the other side of the Sitnica River several thousand Albanians. The former bridge over the Sitnica River was destroyed during the 1999 conflict in the territory of Kosovo.