Hundreds of thousands of revellers will descend on Notting Hill Carnival on Monday as police hailed the "overwhelmingly positive and celebratory" mood, despite making 243 arrests.
The annual west London carnival, taking place across two main days and celebrating its 60th anniversary, is Europe’s biggest street party and billed by organisers as “the greatest community-led event on the planet”.
Sunday’s family day celebrations of Caribbean culture saw an array of mas bands, steel pan bands, dancers, and sound systems light up the west London district in colour, glitter, and feathers.
Thousands of children took part in the parade, wearing carnival regalia with all the feathered plumes and towering headdresses that is traditional on the day.
Elsewhere, dancers wore glittering costumes in all the colours of the rainbow as soundsystems played every kind of music from samba to house and reggae. As ever, Soca music was the most popular at Notting Hill Carnival, blending American soul with Caribbean rhythms.
Despite the upbeat party atmosphere, the Met Police reported 243 arrests in a new update issued on Monday.
Offences including possession of drugs, possession of weapons, assaults (including assaults on emergency workers) and sexual offences.
Of the total arrests, most took place inside the event with 97 on the approaches outside. Some 61 arrests were as a result of live facial recognition (LFR).
On Sunday officers said LFR enabled officers to arrest three sex offenders, arrested for breaching conditions while 26 other registered sex offenders were spoken to.
Officers responded to two knife assaults – a slashing to the leg and a slashing to the hand – neither of which resulted in life changing or life threatening injuries.
Commander Claire Smart, in charge of the policing operation, said: “We have been working closely with Notting Hill Carnival Ltd and other partners for many months ahead of this weekend’s event.
“The organisers have stepped forward significantly across the event, including crowd management, and we have seen the positive progress today. While we have seen a significant number of arrests and interventions by officers, the result of that proactive approach is a welcome reduction in the levels of serious violence seen at the event in previous years.
Elsewhere, a van caught alight at Pembridge Villas opposite the festivities and saw London Fire Brigade dispatched four fire engines and around 25 firefighters to the scene.
A 72-second silence in memory of the victims of Grenfell didn’t quite go to plan, as one float accidentally forgot to turn off its music as it passed the North Kensington Fire station at 3pm.
Firefighters were seen shaking their heads in disbelief as the float passed. When the MC eventually noticed, he issued an apology to the crowd.
Despite the hiccup, the carnival was largely a happy event as revellers danced around more than 30 sound systems in W10 and continued partying until late in the evening.
This year’s festivities mark 60 years since the carnival’s inception, which was originally born out of resistance to racial injustice.
The first day saw Saturday’s Steel Band Competition, while Sunday began with the colourful J’ouvert opening celebration at Ladbroke Grove followed by the much-anticipated Children’s Day and Dutty Mas parade, kicking off at Westbourne Park.
Sounds of calypso, samba reggae and soca continued right up until 7pm. Festivities continue on Monday when the adult’s day parade marks the very peak of carnival.
