KOSOVSKA MITROVICA - Several people have been injured and a number of cars set on fire in the riots that broke out during the protest of ethnic Albanians at the southern side of the main bridge in Kosovska Mitrovica on Sunday, over the Peace Park being built at the bridge.

Ethnic Albanians gathered around 3 p.m. CET near the main bridge over the Ibar River in the southern part of Kosovska Mitrovica, chanting “U-C-K'' (Albanian language acronym for the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army) and waving Albanian and U.S. flags, but soon after clashed with the police in the security cordon.

The protesters threw rocks and bottles at members of the Kosovo police and EULEX, who responded by firing tear gas and shock bombs to break up the riots. Two vehicles of the Kosovo police and one UN vehicle were torched and according to unofficial sources two police officers were injured.

Guarding the main bridge over the Ibar are the U.S. KFOR troops, Kosovo police intervention units and members of the EULEX mission. Several armed vehicles of EULEX are placed near the bridge on the northern side.

Serbs from the northern Kosovska Mitrovica gathered at the intersection near the bridge to see how the situation will unfold in the southern part of the city.

Ethnic Albanians from southern Kosovska Mitrovica used social networks to organize and stage a protest at the Ibar bridge over the construction of Peace Park, which was built on the city's main bridge several days ago, after the concrete roadblock had been removed.

The mayor of southern Kosovska Mitrovica Agim Bahtiri said Saturday that patience is wearing thin, and that the new Ibar bridge barricade, in the form of a park, must be removed immediately.

Northern Mitrovica mayor Goran Rakic called upon Bahtiri to stop the provocative rhetoric about the removal of Peace Park and turn to talks about the future.