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One million revellers are expected to descend on the capital this weekend for the annual Notting Hill Carnival as 7,000 officers police the celebrations.
The carnival is the biggest of its kind in Europe and is billed by organisers as “the greatest community-led event on the planet”.
Taking place every August bank holiday weekend, the event is one of the longest-running street parties in the UK and celebrates Caribbean culture in a weekend of costumes, dancing and music.
It is also the subject of a large-scale policing operation, with around 7,000 officers on duty throughout the weekend to police the event this year.
There were eight stabbings and 275 arrests at the 2023 event.
The festival is a “fixture in London’s cultural calendar” and attracts similar numbers each year, the Metropolitan Police said.
Met spokesperson Commander Charmain Brenyah said she had grown up near where the event is held in west London and has “many happy memories of the music, costumes, floats and fantastic atmosphere”.
But she added: “Sadly, however, we know that for a minority of people, Carnival is an opportunity to commit crime or to seek out violent confrontation.”
The Met said it will be deploying a specialist crowd management cell for the second year in a row to monitor crowd density and flow.
In order to staff the event, Met officers will be joined by colleagues from the City of London Police and the British Transport Police.
Rick Prior, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said many “hard-working” officers will be giving up their bank holiday to keep revellers safe.
“We wish our hard-working colleagues a safe and secure policing operation at the Notting Hill Carnival,” he said.
“Many are missing valuable time to rest and be at home with loved ones to work across the bank holiday weekend at this demanding event.”
On Saturday performers competed in Notting Hill Carnival’s Panorama evening, which is the UK’s biggest steel band competition, and sees five bands play a ten-minute composition from memory with no sheet music allowed.
Children’s Day is held on Sunday, featuring family-friendly activities and a parade, where youngsters in colourful costumes are encouraged to dance in the streets. It is sometimes known as Family Day.
The Adults’ Parade is held on Monday, described by organisers as the climax of the carnival with “party vibes” - but it is also where most arrests are made.
Transport for London (TfL) urged people travelling to the carnival to plan their journeys in advance as it warned some stations could be much busier than usual.
