Up to two million people are expected to come to Notting Hill Carnival over the course of the bank holiday weekend, according to Sky News, with hundreds of thousands of people on the streets of West London. The broadcaster described the event as an annual celebration of Caribbean culture and reported that this year marks a milestone, as the carnival celebrates its 60th anniversary since the first one was held back in 1966.
According to Sky News, the children's and family parade took place on the day before, while the main adult parade is being held today. The broadcaster described floats moving up and down the streets, people walking past in their costumes, and an atmosphere it called an explosion of sound, with the ground quite literally vibrating and a kaleidoscope of colour along the route on Ladbroke Grove.
Sky News reported that police described the previous day as overwhelmingly positive and celebratory, despite making 169 arrests by the early evening. According to the broadcaster, two of those arrests were for alleged knife assaults. Officials said they were hoping that the same positive tone would continue into today, as the main parade got under way with sunshine over the crowds.
According to Sky News, the Metropolitan Police have deployed facial recognition software for the second year in a row. The broadcaster explained that these are cameras that pick out the faces of people who might be wanted for offending, and that people identified in this way have been arrested too. The report stressed that only a very small number of the hundreds of thousands present end up involved in alleged criminality.
Sky News reported that the policing effort has been bolstered, with far more stewards on the streets of West London than in previous years. According to the broadcaster, they are benefiting from a 4.6 million pound cash boost from City Hall, part of a huge amount of resource that has gone into trying to make the event as safe as possible for the enormous crowds attending.
Local councillor Johnny Thalassitis told Sky News that staging the carnival takes a village, describing how the council works with Westminster, the police, community groups and the organisers. According to the councillor, the authority licenses more than 250 different premises, closes the roads, and ends up clearing about 300 tonnes of waste over the couple of days of the celebration.
Speaking to Sky News, festival-goers described the atmosphere as amazing and spoke about everyone being together and the chance to share Caribbean food. The broadcaster reported that some attendees had parents and grandparents who came to the carnival at the same time each year, and were now there themselves. Asked what a first-timer should try, the councillor suggested the rum punch and some jerk chicken, adding that people had to lean into it.