
“An organized criminal group is now in power, with Aleksandar Vucic at helm,” said the leader of the opposition Party of Freedom and Justice (SSP), Dragan Djilas, commenting on the Thursday evening incident in Belgrade in which he and SSP member Djordje Aleksic were attacked.
Djilas emphasized that he was attacked by Luka Petrovic, and that Aleksic suffered injuries severe enough that he is unable to walk.
The SSP leader and Aleksic were assaulted on Thursday evening in Belgrade by a group of activists of the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by senior SNS official and Belgrade City Investment Secretary Luka Petrovic. The activists were putting up posters saying Djilas is a thief.
At a press conference in the Serbian Parliament, Djilas explained that after hearing about the group putting up posters, he went to see who was involved.
“A man over 40 years old, not a child, appeared – that was Luka Petrovic, who led the group. He got in my face, called me a thief, and started hitting me,” Djilas said, adding that he has two hematomas on his head and bruises on his legs.
He noted that Djordje Aleksic sustained more serious injuries than he did.
The ruling SPS and its main coalition partner the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) lashed out on Friday at opposition leader Djilas, accusing him of assaulting a group of young men who were putting up posters overnight.
Petrovic appeared on the pro-regime TV Pink early on Friday morning to say that Djilas punched him first and that his bodyguard then started hitting the group of young men whom he called children.