London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Millions of Londoners are anticipated to come out for this weekend’s Notting Hill Carnival as the improving weather catches Saturday’s rain replaced by sunshine.
The carnival has developed into Europe’s biggest street party with massive crowds watching thousands of participants along the three-mile route including steel bands, sound systems and dancers. It has come a long way from its origins in a Caribbean carnival set up following race riots in the west London neighbourhood in 1958 when it was a byword for deprivation and bad housing rather than the gentrified place it has become.
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Carnival CEO Matthew Phillip stated the event would stand in stark difference to the recent far-right riots that exploded across the nation. He stated he could not wait “to see people from all walks of life, different backgrounds, standing shoulder to shoulder enjoying the sights, sounds, scents and tastes of Carnival.”
He said: “We are all human beings and it’s about reaching together to celebrate and it’s always relevant, some might state more so given what’s occurred up and down the UK in recent weeks. It‘s the biggest festival of inclusion and diversity the UK has if not Europe, and it must remain that way. “If you come to carnival at the weekend you are going to visit people from all walks of life, different backgrounds, essentially in comfort with each other and enjoying themselves. Aside from any economic usefulness, the carnival brings to the UK, this is just as essential as bringing people together to celebrate.”
The Met Police have expressed around 7,000 police officers will be on responsibility at the carnival this year. Eight people were pierced at last year’s event and 275 arrests were pushed. Protective panels have been attached to some facilities in the area in anticipation.
Commander Charmain Brenyah, the Met’s spokesperson for the carnival, stated the force had spent months preparing with organisers. “Having been raised not far from where the carnival takes place, I have many happy remembrances,” Ms Brenyah stated. Sadly, however, we know that for a minority of people, carnival is an option to commit a crime or to seek out violent confrontation