ARROYO VERDE (AFP) - Argentine protesters Saturday lifted a three-year-old roadblock on a bridge to Uruguay to give a Finnish paper mill time to prove it's not polluting the river.

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As cars began crossing the bridge linking Gualeguaychu to Fray Bentos, in Uruguay, protesters said they were expecting a joint monitoring system would be put in place in the next 60 days to ensure the UPM mill's operations are environmentally safe.

"We're not giving up," the protesters said in a statement. "If the two governments (Argentina and Uruguay) don't resolve this conflict we'll continue and we'll be back with our massive and peaceful protest."

The roadblock on the General San Martin Bridge began in November 2006, one year before the paper mill owned by Finland's UPM (formerly called Botnia) went into operation over Argentina's objections it was polluting the river and that it had not been notified of its construction.

The International Court of Justice in the Hague in April ruled that "Uruguay breached its procedural obligations" by not informing Argentina about the paper processing plant on the River Uruguay.

The court, however, chose not to hold Montevideo responsible for polluting the river.

The Argentine protesters said they expected "a complete and truthful report" on the results of the joint monitoring system, as well as proper control of toxic substances trucked into the UPM plant in Fray Bentos.

In the meantime, one protestor said over the loudspeaker, "we'll wait alongside this road an continue our protest.

"Botnia is illegal, it is polluting and it must get out of the Uruguay River basin."