Supporters of Serbia's Student List turned up with bin bags on the morning after the movement's parliamentary election victory, gathering at Pioneers Park opposite the national assembly in Belgrade. After a night of loud celebrations, the cleanup was a fitting follow-up for a movement that has tidied up after itself throughout two years of anti-corruption protests.
The small park, with its mature trees and playground, had been off limits for 18 months. A pro-government camp known as Ćaciland occupied it, with convicted criminals living in white tents and willing to attack journalists or anyone who came too close. Police watched the violence without intervening.
Election night briefly looked as though it might bring more of the same. About half an hour before polls closed, large numbers of masked men dressed in black began assembling in and around the park, lending weight to predictions that the governing Serbian Progressive party (SNS) would not give up power without a fight.
Instead, shortly after polls closed and before any projections had appeared, Aleksandar Vučić told supporters at SNS headquarters that the party had suffered a comprehensive defeat to the Student List. As cheers echoed through central Belgrade, he said he did not want unrest or anything like it on the streets. Riot police stood aside, barriers around the park came down, and the masked group left quickly. Student List supporters then ransacked Ćaciland and set fire to some of the tents.
Hundreds of volunteers answered a call to restore the park, working alongside municipal workers. Some took down the damaged tents, while others cleaned and disinfected the swings, slides and climbing frames. Radomir Dalic combed the grass for cigarette butts and litter, saying he was delighted the park was rid of "criminals with violent intentions towards us". He added: "We are in garbage, but it's the smell of freedom." Tamara Tomic, in yellow rubber gloves, said the effort showed that people wanted to live nicely and enjoy a normal life without violence.
Few are yet asking how the Student List will govern. The movement has no hierarchy and no leader, and its candidates were chosen through student assemblies, with nominees ranging from academics and athletes to economists and engineers. It published an 11-point plan focused mostly on anti-corruption measures, along with judicial reform, media freedom, affordable housing and better healthcare, including a pledge of "a doctor in every village". It named no prime ministerial candidate and no possible cabinet before the vote.
Kurt Bassuener, co-founder of the Democratization Policy Council, said he hoped the movement had a plan with credible people ready for each portfolio, warning that the fissures in a broad coalition can show soon after victory. Ilija Srdanović, the first-ranked candidate and a cardiologist at the university in Novi Sad, where a deadly roof collapse sparked the protests, said the movement is fully democratic and aims to avoid a cult of personality. He stressed that his ranking did not make him prime minister and that numerous candidates could fill that role.
Foreign policy is also unclear. Vučić had warned that a Student List government would sanction Russia and recognise Kosovo's declaration of independence, but the movement's positions remain opaque. Michael Davenport, a former EU and UK ambassador to Serbia, noted there were no seas of EU flags at student demonstrations and said there is no consensus on EU accession, Bosnia and Herzegovina, or especially Kosovo.
For now, many are content to postpone such worries. Car horns sounded throughout Monday as drivers passed the cleanup crew at Pioneers Park. One visible symbol of the old order has been removed, and Student List voters hope others will follow.