Police made 169 arrests at the first day of Notting Hill Carnival, but Scotland Yard said the mood has been "overwhelmingly positive and celebratory".
Thousands of people attended the west-London neighbourhood event on Sunday, marking the start of Europe's biggest street party. The carnival, billed by organisers as "the greatest community-led event on the planet," is celebrating its 60th anniversary, honouring Caribbean culture, history and the arts while promoting resilience against racial discrimination.
Arrests and incidents at the event
As of 7.45pm on Sunday, arrests had been made for offences including possession of drugs, possession of weapons, assaults and sexual offences, the force said. The majority of arrests took place within the event perimeter.
Officers responded to two knife assaults, a slashing to the leg and one to the hand, neither of which resulted in life-changing or threatening injuries.
Police response and safety measures
In a statement issued on Sunday evening, a police spokesperson said: "While officers responded to a number of incidents as would be anticipated at an event of this scale, the mood has been overwhelmingly positive and celebratory."
Commander Claire Smart, who is in charge of the policing operation, said: "We have been working closely with Notting Hill Carnival Ltd and other partners for many months ahead of this weekend’s event.
"The organisers have stepped forward significantly across the event, including crowd management, and we have seen the positive progress today.
"While we have seen a significant number of arrests and interventions by officers, the result of that proactive approach is a welcome reduction in the levels of serious violence seen at the event in previous years.
"Nobody involved in the delivery of the event is complacent, however. There are still many officers deployed across the footprint to ensure crowds disperse safely.
"We will have officers on duty through the night and tomorrow we will go again to ensure we can continue to tackle the minority who want to come to Carnival to spoil the celebration for the majority."
Earlier this week, the force said more than 7,000 officers would be deployed to west London over the bank holiday weekend.
Context and previous years
With around two million people attending every year, the carnival drives a massive £400 million into London's economy. Day two of this year's event is set to take place on bank holiday Monday.
Last year, 528 arrests were made across the two main days of the carnival, including 167 for drug offences, 50 for possession of an offensive weapon, 21 for sexual offences, four for violence with injury and 49 for other violence. In 2024, there were eight stabbings, including the murder of 32-year-old mother Cher Maximen, with the same number the previous year, and seven including a murder in 2022.
