A retired Scotland Yard detective has denounced the Metropolitan Police's handling of the Notting Hill Carnival as the "ultimate in two-tier policing”.
The annual event, which draws over one million revellers to west London, will see around 7,000 officers deployed on Sunday and Monday to maintain order.
Mike Neville, a former detective chief inspector with Scotland Yard, told the Telegraph that the carnival would likely be banned under different circumstances following 275 arrests and eight stabbings last year.
“If the behaviour of the Notting Hill Carnival was replicated at football matches or any other event it would be banned,” he said.
“It is the ultimate in two-tier policing.”
The carnival, which has grown out of Afro-Caribbean culture and traditions since 1966, has become the biggest street party in Europe.
Carnival CEO Matthew Phillip said the event would stand in stark contrast to the recent far-right riots that erupted across the nation.
Commander Charmain Brenyah, the Met’s spokesperson for the carnival, said the force had spent months planning with organisers.
“Having grown up not far from where the carnival takes place, I have many happy memories,” Ms Brenyah said.
“Sadly, however, we know that for a minority of people, carnival is an opportunity to commit crime or to seek out violent confrontation.”
But Mr Neville has said that it is not policed in the same way as other events.
“You see people openly smoking drugs, abuse of police officers, dancing with female officers to the point of sexual assault,” he said.
“I challenge anybody to do the same thing on the way to a Millwall football game.”
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.
