Stabbings, robberies, sexual offences, and drugs on Carnival 'family day'.
Scenes of mayhem and lawlessness were witnessed at Notting Hill Carnival yesterday with police bracing themselves for more trouble today. Thousands of mostly afro caribbean revellers took to the streets of London yesterday for Notting Hill's 'family day' resulting in 16 police officers injured, 90 arrests, 3 stabbings and one woman fighting for her life.
The Met Police has confirmed that a 32-year-old woman who was stabbed on Sunday is in a life-threatening condition, while a 29-year-old man is also in hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The condition of a 24-year-old man who was also stabbed during the carnival is currently unknown.
Police said that they had made 90 arrests across the carnival and 18 of them have been for possession of an offensive weapon. They added 15 officers had been assaulted in ugly scenes - but none of those assaulted have sustained serious injuries.
'Hundreds of thousands of people came to Notting Hill Carnival today to enjoy a fantastic celebration,' the force said in an update on Sunday night. Our officers have been on duty working to keep them safe as part of a very carefully planned policing operation.
'Regrettably, a minority came to commit crime and engage in violence.'
Sky described the carnival as 'mostly peaceful'.
Further arrests were made for sexual offences, drugs, robberies and a range of other crimes.
A Section 60 order, otherwise known as stop and search, was also authorised for the Carnival area from 6.05pm to 2am as part of an intensive police operation. This gives officers greater powers to search suspects and remove weapons from the streets.
Around 7,000 officers have been deployed to police the event across the bank holiday weekend. There are fears that there could be more violence on Adults Day today, which is the carnival's busiest day.
Notting Hill is one of the longest-running street parties in the UK and celebrates Caribbean culture with vividly costumed performers taking part in a parade through the streets with dancing and music.
But carnivals in the past have also been marred by violence. There were eight stabbings and 275 arrests at the 2023 event and 7,000 Met Police officers are set to be deployed onto the streets of Kensington.
Despite the high number of arrests and heavy police presence, a retired Met Police detective chief inspector yesterday claimed officers are hesitant to make arrests during the event for fears of being called racist. Mike Neville spoke to the Daily Telegraph where he leaned into the growing conspiracy theory that two-tier policing exists in Britain.
He said: If the behaviour of the Notting Hill Carnival was replicated at football matches or any other event it would be banned.' Mr Neville has claimed that many revellers at the event openly smoke illegal drugs in front of police officers without fear of arrest as proof of his allegation.
Scotland Yard rejected claims that it applies two-tier policing at the event. Commander Chairman Brenyah told the Telegraph that the force has search powers that will use to take weapons off the street and intervene with anyone committing violence.
Commander Brenyah did admit that the sheer weight of numbers attending presents a potential danger and is a 'serious cause for concern.'
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