The street of West London have been filled with colourful costumes, dancing and music, as Notting Hill Carnival got underway today (24 August).
The two-day carnival, Europe’s biggest street party and an annual extravaganza over the summer bank holiday weekend, is held to celebrate Caribbean culture and history.
The festival began early on Sunday with the J’ouvert celebration where people covered each other in paint, coloured powder and chocolate.
Children’s day is taking place on Sunday and is followed by the main event on Monday.
The festivities kicked off on Sunday morning in Great Western Road, where judges stood in a stall to watch the colourful float procession.
A woman on glittering golden stilts walked past as an enthusiastic soca MC had the crowd jumping with their hands in the air.
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.
And the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, Tom Bennett, 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.”
Revellers gather in the sunshine during the Notting Hill Carnival. (Photo: Getty Images)There were no reports of serious violence at the event – something that has marred it in recent years – but the Metropolitan Police said as of 7.45pm on Sunday, there had been 140 arrests.
The force said 105 were made at the carnival and 35 on approaches to carnival as a result of proactive policing interventions.
Fifteen arrests were for assaults on police – with one officer requiring hospital treatment for injuries to their hand – while there were 21 for possession of an offensive weapon, 25 for possession of cannabis and six for possession of class A drugs.
Fast-paced drumming could be heard and felt before the first parade arrived, decorating the street with flutes, brass instruments, steel drums, dancers and costumes including giant colourful wings.
Towering sound systems and stages, including one for BBC Radio 1 Xtra, had been set up playing reggae, dub and drum and bass, with groups of friends, some in costume and others wearing their country’s flag, dancing around them.
Locals leaned out of their balconies and windows and watched the celebrations below.
The TV chef and personality, Big Zuu, who was partying with his friends at the event said he had been coming to carnival since he was one years old and has taken part in the floats.
Discussing the importance of the carnival, he said: “Multiculturalism is important.
“Everything. It’s a celebration of black culture in England which we need right now. We have got these idiots putting up English flags. We’re all British, we are part of Britain, this is a multicultural country.
“This is the best celebration of multiculturalism in the country.”
Young performers in colourful costumes take part in the Children’s Parade of the Notting Hill Carnival. (Photo: Future Publishing/ Wiktor Szymanowicz)About one million people are expected to be on the streets of west London for the event, the Metropolitan Police said previously.
About 7,000 police officers will be on duty across the capital this Sunday and Monday.
The Met Police arrested one hundred people and seized dozens of weapons seized ahead of the carnival.
In a statement, Scotland Yard said the arrests, which led to 21 people being recalled to prison, are “intended to disrupt and deter those who the police have reason to believe pose the greatest risk to public safety at carnival.”
The Met said live facial recognition 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.
Last year, two people were killed during the carnival, including a woman who was murdered with a zombie knife in front of her three-year-old daughter.
The annual celebration has been running for more than 50 years.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
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