Argentines Protest Against Uruguay's Paper Mill Construction
Argentines on Monday closed the international bridge linking their country with neighboring Uruguay in protest against the World Bank's decision to lend 170 million U.S. dollars to help build a paper mill in nearby Fray Bentos, Uruguay.

Protestors said the plant will cause irreparable damage to the Uruguay River, the sharing border between the two nations and is crossed by a bridge to the city of Gualeguaychu, in the northern Argentine province of Entre Rios.

The protest has been supported by regional governor Jorge Busti, and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner. Federal security forces whose job is to keep the bridge open have maintained a close presence to the protestors, but have not tried to prevent them.

The central government's strategy of turning a blind eye to the protest has been a subject of complaint by Uruguay in the International Court of Justice in the Hague and at the Southern Common Market (Mercosur) tribunal.

Spanish firm Ence has moved another planned paper mill out of the Fray Bentos region thanks to Kirchner's pressure on his Spanish counterpart, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The new protest began a few hours after Spain's ambassador to the United Nations, Juan Antonio Yanez Barbueno, flew to Uruguay.