Petrified businessowners and residents in affluent West London have started to board up their windows ahead of the notorious Notting Hill Carnival.
Pictures show properties being boarded up ahead of the two-day event which is expected to attract 2million people this weekend – sparking questions as to whether it should be moved entirely.
Last year the Met Police arrested 308 people during Notting Hill Carnival – with at least 75 officers assaulted and eight revellers stabbed.
Carnival-goers also saw a hooded thug charging across the street wielding a foot-long machete, while another was spotted raising a zombie knife in the air. This year’s event saw the highest number of stabbings since 2016, when there were 15.
Scared residents met in September at a post-Carnival meeting billed as ‘an opportunity for you to let the organisers know how the Carnival was for you, what was useful and what could be improved’.
Representatives from the Metropolitan Police and the councils of Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea attended, with discussion including whether the location could be moved to make it easier to police.
The Metropolitan Police Federation, which represents officers in the capital, has also echoed these suggestions.
Its vice chairman Rick Prior condemned the level of violence as ‘unsustainable’, saying: ‘It is just awful and this sort of violence against officers at this event has become normalised.
‘The officers have a right to come to work and expect not to be attacked, injured, sexually assaulted or bitten. Those bitten will have had to be given anti-viral drugs if the skin was broken, and will now need all sorts of tests – it is horrendous.
‘It has almost become a certainty we will have this violence and terrible treatment of police officers every year and it is just not acceptable.
‘It is a very difficult event to police and of course we recognise the need for this event but it should perhaps be moved to somewhere like Hyde Park where it would be less problematic to police.’
Meanwhile Susan Hall, the Conservative candidate who ran against Sadiq Khan for Mayor of London, labelled the carnival as ‘dangerous’ and suggested it be moved to Hyde Park.
The carnival has been held on the streets of Notting Hill every year since 1966 – apart from in 2020 and 2021 when it was cancelled due to the pandemic.
At last year’s event, one 29-year-old man was in a critical condition after being knifed just after 9pm on the Monday, while a 19-year-old was in a stable condition having been stabbed an hour earlier.
Scotland Yard confirmed that 308 were arrested – up from an initial total of 275 that was given – at the carnival, which was attended by an estimated two million people.
The arrests were for offences such as possession of offensive weapons including guns, assaults, possession of drugs and sexual offences.
Shocking pictures showed one man brandishing a foot-long machete very close to other carnival-goers as he ran around the streets with other group members in masks.
One image showed him appearing to point the weapon at a person on the ground. As those in the vicinity fled, police on horseback tried to chase after the group.
As well as the two men left in hospital, six others aged between 18 and 40 were stabbed in separate incidents and sustained non life-threatening injuries.
Mr Prior praised the senior Met officers who oversaw the policing operation and said the crime would have been far worse without strong leadership.
‘Our point of contact at the carnival was very pleased with the Met’s command team and the decisions they made this year,’ he said.
‘They gave the officers on the ground the confidence to carry out their role knowing they had leaders in place who were making the right decisions quickly.’
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who oversaw the policing, said: ‘It is regrettable that for a second year in a row, Monday night at Carnival has been marred by serious violence.
‘Nobody disputes the significance of Carnival on London’s cultural calendar and the overwhelming majority of those who came will have had a positive experience. However, we cannot overlook the stabbings, sexual assaults and attacks on police officers that we have seen.
‘Carnival is a challenging policing environment. Officers were asked to be vigilant and alert but to be approachable, respectful and sensitive at the same time. They did all of that and more and they deserve our recognition and our thanks.’
A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: ‘The Notting Hill Carnival is one of the world’s biggest street festivals and is part of the very fabric of our city.
‘The celebration was born out of the Caribbean community in north Kensington and Notting Hill, and the mayor believes that it’s only right that this remains its home.
‘Like with other major events in London the mayor will continue to work with local partners to ensure the event remains safe and enjoyable for all.’
Waste crews who carried out the mammoth carnival-clean up estimated they collected 13 tonnes of laughing gas cannisters from the streets last year – a substance which has now been made illegal, with users facing up to two years in prison.
Kensington and Chelsea Council said crews collected five skips’ full – with an estimate of more than 12,000 canisters.