Tens of thousands of demonstrators massed Sunday on the international bridge connecting Argentina with Uruguay, protesting Uruguay's plans to finish two wood-pulp mills that opponents fear will pollute the environment.
Argentine gendarmes kept the protesters, led by environmentalists, from reaching the border demarcation on the towering bridge span. The group raised Argentine and Uruguayan flags during the peaceful protest and sang both countries' national anthems.
The group, estimated by authorities to number nearly 40,000, marched from the Argentine city of Gualeguaychu, just across the Uruguay River from Fray Bentos, Uruguay, near where the two large pulp mills are being built.
Uruguayan officials have rejected protesters' charges the plants would heavily pollute the border region. They say the plants will meet international environmental standards, create 600 jobs and bring in millions of dollars (euros) annually to the small South American country still recovering from a deep 2002 economic crisis.
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner is planning to hold a cabinet meeting in Gualeguaychu on Friday to discuss the feud that has tarnished his country's historically close ties with Uruguay.
Twice this year Kirchner has called on Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez to halt construction for 90 days on the two pulp plants, demanding an environmental impact study.
He has also said he was prepared to take the long-running feud to the International Court of Justice at The Hague if a solution is not reached.
One plant would be operated by Oy Metsa-Botnia AB consortium, made up of a group of Finnish investors. The other is being built by Spain's Grupo Empresarial ENCE. The two plants constitute the largest ever foreign investment project in Uruguay at US$1.8 billion (euro1.5 billion).Associated Press via Environmental News Network
