But on July 25, the Republic of Kosovo deployed special police to these two checkpoints to enforce a recent trade ban on goods entering from Serbia proper.

[1] The President of the council, Nebojša Jović, said that 50,000 Serbs living in North Kosovo want the territory to become part of Serbia and are ready to die for the cause.

[2] Zvečan Deputy Mayor Dragiša Milović explained that the barricades would remain as long as "Albanian customs officers are at the Brnjak and Jarinje administrative crossings".

[2] The referendum was announced on December 25, 2011, by Kosovska Mitrovica Mayor Krstimir Pantić, after a joint decision by the four municipalities in North Kosovo.

[4] He also sought for the municipalities to the south of Ibar to organize a referendum with the same question: "Do you want Kosovan institutions in this region" ("Da li želite kosovske institucije na ovom području?").

The main organizer of the event was Momčilo Trajković, who highlighted the SNV's opposition to Aleksandar Vučić's administration and to the "normalization" of relations between Belgrade and Priština under the Ohrid Agreement.

Trajković contended that the Vučić administration was a "puppet" of international powers that were attempting to make Kosovo an independent state without a Serb population.

[7] Serbian National Council of North Kosovo and Metohija (Српско национално веће северног КиМ) was founded in June 1999, officially, on December 19, 1999, in Leposavić.