Dresden 'eyesore' Elbe bridge opens after Unesco row

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Hundreds of people streamed across the Waldschloesschen (Little Castle in the Woods) bridge during the opening day on Saturday.

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The premier of Saxony, Stanislaw Tillich, and Dresden Mayor Helma Orosz officially cut the ribbon. Unsurprisingly, no Unesco officials were present.

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Members of the Vietnamese community put on their finery for the opening ceremony.

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On Monday the new bridge will begin carrying vehicle traffic over the River Elbe.

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But pedestrians had exclusive access for its first weekend in service.

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Unesco removed Dresden from its World Heritage list because it said the new bridge would ruin the vista of palaces along the River Elbe.

A controversial bridge in the German city of Dresden has opened despite objections from the UN heritage body Unesco, which removed Dresden from its World Heritage list in protest.

The four-lane structure over the River Elbe was inaugurated on Saturday and will open to vehicle traffic on Monday.

Dresden is the first European site ever to be de-listed by Unesco, which said the bridge marred the view of the city's magnificent baroque palaces.

The new bridge cost 182m euros (£156m).

Construction was approved in a local referendum in 2005, with more than two-thirds of Dresden's voters giving their support.

The BBC's Steve Evans in Berlin says it was a bridge too far for Unesco, which has 981 World Heritage Sites, ranging from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the Victoria Falls on the Zimbabwe-Zambia border.

It took Dresden off the list in 2009. Environmental organisations also launched legal proceedings to get the bridge stopped but without success.

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