Serbian opposition leader Dragan Djilas said during his visit to Kosovo that he understands what local Serbs have to go through if they don’t support President Aleksandar Vucic.

“After the organized verbal assault and insults by local bullies, I realized once again what people living in Kosovo go through if they don’t support Aleksandar Vucic,” Djilas told Belgrade daily Danas. The Alliance for Serbia founder visited Kosovo on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Djilas was verbally assaulted by a group of young men in Leposavic with officials of the Otadzbina (homeland) organization Slavisa Ristic and Marko Jaksic. The group of young men are alleged to be employees of the Leposavic municipal administration who are part of a group headed by a local businessman loyal to the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). Djilas said that the Serbian List does not represent the Serb people in Kosovo but is part of what he called the “Aleksandar Vucic’s corrupt SNS authorities”.

“Their representatives continue to sit in Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj’s cabinet and are regularly paid. We identified all eight “representatives of the people” with jobs in the Leposavic municipality who were part of the group making threats and exerting pressure at the recent local elections in the town of Lucani in Serbia,” Djilas said commenting a Serb List statement which attacked him.

He said efforts have to be invested to normalize relations among people on the ground.

“Serb-Albanian relations are worse today than they were seven years ago when Aleksandar Vucic came to power and that is evident at every step. The Serbian people are in an especially difficult position because they are exposed to harassment by Serb criminals,” Djilas said.