About 6 000 men and women, most of them Romani, gathered on Sunday, 19 September for a Romani festival in the Czech town of Ústí nad Labem. In addition to musical performances on the stage of an outdoor movie theater, Romani figures took turns reminding those present of the importance of next month's elections to the Chamber of Deputies, and attendees could also get vaccinated against COVID-19 with the Janssen vaccine from Johnson & Johnson.
The enormous interest in the festival surprised one of the main organizers of the event, Jaroslav Miko. "We were optimistic, but such a big turnout of more than 6 000 people we never anticipated," he said, adding that he hopes people mainly came away from the event with information about the elections that they will spread further within their own families.
