THE NOTTING Hill Carnival, one of Europe’s biggest street parties, is to go ahead despite fears it could reignite rioting that tore through parts of London and spread to other cities last week.
Organisers, who have been holding talks with residents and the police, said on Thursday (August 18), however, that the event would start and finish earlier than usual to give crowds time to disperse.
The decision over whether to proceed had hung in the balance after the worst riots in decades shocked the country and drew a tough approach to the disturbances from the government.
“Trouble-makers or those who seek to cast a shadow over this vibrant event are not welcome and shouldn’t be allowed to spoil it for thousands of others,” said Christopher Boothman co-director of the firm that runs the event.
The two-day carnival on August 28 and 29 is a showcase for African-Caribbean culture and regularly attracts a crowd of more than one million people who dance and party behind dozens of colourful floats and sound systems.
It takes place annually in the fashionable, and in places upmarket, area of west London portrayed in the film Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts.
In the past, the event has been marred by shootings, stabbings, drug-dealing and large numbers of arrests, although it has been largely peaceful in recent years.
It has also attracted trouble from rival teenage street gangs, which the government and police have partly blamed for the looting.
Responding to the violence, British Prime Minister David Cameron this week declared war on gangs, promising tougher police powers to counter the growing phenomenon which community leaders and experts say has been ignored and allowed to fester.
In 1976 the carnival ended in a full-scale riot with dozens of police and revellers injured after white and black youths fought running battles with police.
The riot was blamed on simmering racial tensions in the area, the “stop-and-search” laws and heavy policing of the event.
According to police accounts, violence erupted after officers attempted to arrest a pickpocket, who was immediately defended by the surrounding crowds.
“Notting Hill Carnival is one of London’s most important cultural events and to cancel it would have a negative impact on London’s economy and reputation as a centre for successful major events,” the organisers said in a statement.
Extra police officers and stewards will be on duty.
Inspired by the Trinidad Carnival, the Notting Hill event was first held in London in 1964 and has grown into one of the world’s biggest, generating tens of millions of pounds for London’s economy.
Festivities usually start on the Saturday of the last weekend in August and run on into the Monday – a holiday in Britain – when the main parade takes place.
