Swaying bridge closed temporarily

Police in London temporarily closed a pedestrian bridge across the River Thames on the first day it was open to the public.

The Millennium Bridge is made of a single arc of steel spanning the Thames near St Paul's Cathedral, and is the first new river crossing in the capital for a hundred years.

But it unnerved thousands of people who crossed it because they said it swayed so much under their weight, especially in the wind.

Engineers who built the bridge said the motion was a deliberate feature and they insisted it was safe.

It has since been re-opened but the number of people allowed on it is being restricted.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service