The visit, just one day before Pristina and EULEX resume customs and police control over the northern border gates 1 and 31, prompted Serbs in Northern Kosovo to block the main roads with make-shift barricades, as well as the main bridge over the Ibar that connects the ethnically divided city of Mitrovica.
Do posete je došlo samo dan pre nego što su Priština i EULEKS nastavili carinsku i policijsku kontrolu na severnim graničnim prelazima 1 i 31, koja je navela Srbe na severnom Kosovu da blokiraju glavne puteve improvizovanim barikadama, kao i glavni most na Ibru koji povezuje etnički podeljeni grad Mitrovicu.