A symbol of unity that found place to the euro bank notes is seen as a problem by the Serbian minority.

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!”.