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One million revellers take to the streets for Notting Hill Carnival
2008-08-25
LONDON (AFP) - More than a million revellers packed the streets of west London over the weekend as masquerade floats entertained party-goers at the Notting Hill Carnival, Europe's biggest street festival. Nearly 300 people were arrested for a variety of offences in connection with the two-day festival on Sunday and Monday, many for drug and alcohol-related crimes, while more than 150 others were detained for the duration of the event. The vast majority of the festival, however, went off peacefully -- massive crowds danced and clapped in the streets to Caribbean music and steel drums, while colourful masquerade floats moved through Notting Hill, with several stalls selling Caribbean food a short walk away. This year's carnival was themed "Welcoming the World", while the floats had themes including "Back From Space", "Tutti Frutti Sweeties" and "Creatures Of The Earth". "I have watched the Notting Hill Carnival go from strength to strength each year to become an internationally acclaimed event," the capital's Mayor Boris Johnson said. "Nothing beats the sounds of the steel pans, the aroma of delicious Caribbean food and the dazzling colours of the costume parade." Michael Williams, marketing director for London Notting Hill Carnival Ltd said that more than one million people attended the festival, though London's Metropolitan Police estimated that a total of 850,000 revellers visited the street carnival over the two days. "The carnival is the perfect London spectacle to captivate the world with its dazzling array of costumes and music," Williams said. "This year's event was enjoyed by more than a million people as the sights and sounds of the Caribbean and other cultures came alive on the streets." Kishor Warasani, a 24-year-old university student living in east London described the carnival as "absolutely amazing". "I love the music and the dancing and I'm definitely going to come again next year," he said. "The outfits are gorgeous. It did not go entirely without incident, though -- 165 people were arrested on Monday for a variety of offences, including 54 drugs-related crimes, as well as 22 arrests in connection with possession of weapons, in addition to the 110 people arrested on Sunday. In addition, officers detained 151 people in south London after they received intelligence that a group was travelling to the carnival -- the people were detained to "prevent a breach of the peace", with Scotland Yard saying that allowing them to Notting Hill "could have put public safety at risk". A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police said that, except for those carrying drugs or weapons, they would be released once the carnival had been concluded. The festival was launched in 1959 by post-World War II immigrants from what were then Britain's Caribbean colonies, as a community act of defiance following ugly race riots the year before. It was held in various parts of London before settling permanently in Notting Hill in 1964. The annual event is now the world's second-biggest carnival after Rio de Janeiro. The festival has been marred by violence in recent years -- last year, two teenagers were shot, while two men were murdered in 2000, and memories of riots in 1976 linger.
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