Notting Hill Carnival got underway today as the streets of London were transformed with a spectacular display of music, dance and colourful costumes for the event’s 59th year
Dazzling costumes, dancing and music have filled the streets of London for the first day of Notting Hill Carnival.
Europe’s biggest street party – a celebration of Caribbean culture and history – got underway this morning with the J’ouvert celebration, where people covered each other in paint, coloured powder and chocolate.
Sunday was children’s day, and will be followed by the main event on Monday. The festivities kicked off on Great Western Road, where judges stood in a stall to watch the colourful float procession.
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Festival chairman Ian Comfort told the crowd he was pleased the carnival was happening after its future was in jeopardy because of funding challenges earlier this year.
The Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Tom Bennett, meanwhile welcomed “friends” from across the Caribbean and said: “It’s one of the greatest street parties in the world – celebrating today Caribbean culture – from dancing, music, costumes but also everything the Caribbean community has done in this borough and country.”
About one million people are expected to be on the streets of west London across both days, police said, with about 7,000 police officers on duty across the capital.
The Met said live facial recognition (LFR) technology – which captures people’s faces in real-time CCTV cameras – will be used on the approach to and from the carnival as well as outside the boundaries of the event.
Alongside the use of LFR technology, the Met also said it planned to install screening arches at some of the busiest entry points to the carnival, where stop-and-search powers will be used in a bid to keep weapons out.
A total of 140 arrests were made on the first day of the carnival, with 13 coming as a result of positive identifications using facial recognition.
Of the arrests, 15 were for assault on police, 21 for possession of an offensive weapon, 25 for possession of cannabis, six for possession of class A drugs, two for possession of other drugs, 19 for possession with intent to supply drugs, two robberies, four public order offences, four sexual offences, and 42 other offences.
One police officer was taken taken to hospital after suffering injuries to their hand following an assault.