Serbia's students jubilant after snap election win

Celebrations erupted across several Serbian cities late last night as people hailed the student-backed movement deposing veteran leader Aleksandar Vucic's party in a snap election.

Cars flying Serbian flags honked horns in Belgrade as fireworks lit up the skyline and people massed in public squares and near parliament.

"I feel as though I am finally living in a free country," student Mila Martic told AFP.

The parliamentary election was the culmination of nearly two years of student-led protests after the 2024 collapse of a canopy at Novi Sad railway station that killed 16 people.

The disaster has been widely blamed on corruption and triggered some of Serbia's largest protests since the fall of strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000.

Within moments of Vucic conceding defeat, people poured into the streets to join crowds that had already begun gathering shortly after polls closed; within hours, thousands were on the streets in several cities.

Many passersby held three fingers aloft, the student-backed election list's ballot number and a traditional Serbian greeting, and some lit flares.

Meanwhile, at the Students' List headquarters, supporters applauded, cried, and hugged each other, chanting "Victory, victory!"

'So happy'

"I am experiencing emotions I've never felt before. I am so happy for my family," she added, holding back tears.

"Serbia has won as we promised. Never again a tyrant in this country!" university professor and candidate on the Students' List Radomir Saicic told the supporters in the List's headquarters.

He urged people to celebrate the victory peacefully and with dignity.

"Tonight we celebrate the best way Serbia knows, with song, dance, hugs and tears of joy."

"Tomorrow the work starts, serious, responsible hard work to build Serbia in which the law applies equally to everyone."

Meanwhile, groups of hooded men dressed in black hurried out of a pro-government encampment that had occupied a local city park across from parliament for months.

Crowds poured into the park and dismantled the remaining tents; one tent was set on fire, but there were no reports of clashes.

Trucks carrying riot police were seen leaving the city centre as crowds cheered and waved at them.

An AFP journalist saw the students' supporters starting a folk dance, while Mirjana Nikolic, a candidate on the Students' List and rector of the University of Arts, paid tribute to "all these young people, without whom none of this would have been possible".

Local broadcasters also showed jubilant scenes in other Serbian cities, including a gathering of thousands in Novi Sad where the protest movement began.