Longtime leading Macedonian Roma politician Amdi Bajram had to cancel the wedding of his granddaughter’s Perjan after social media outrage at the preparations for the mass event. The invitations were leaked online, amid worries about the serious spike in coronavirus cases. Weddings, concerts and even home gatherings are strictly forbidden as of recently.

We had the engagement for Perijan, who bears the name of my wife, over a year ago. We planned on having a wedding, we kept postponing because of the virus. We hoped that things will calm down in October but that’s not the case. We will wait for some better time, Bajram said.

Bajram leads the Alliance of Roma of Macedonia (SRM) and has been a member of Parliament for much of the Macedonian recent history, starting in 1994. He recently retired after a career in which he was best known for switching his allegiance between various larger parties, and joining whichever was in power at the time.