Tuesday, 26 Nov 2024

Notting Hill carnival: 353 arrests as police attacked during London festival

The annual street parade, which takes place across the August Bank Holiday weekend, is the largest of its kind in Europe. Around one million people attended the event during the hottest carnival weekend ever. Almost 12,500 police officers and some 1,000 stewards were in place across the two-day celebration.

But this year’s event saw police arrest 353 people across the celebration, with nearly half of the arrests allegedly drug related.

Scotland Yard confirmed 111 arrests were made on Sunday, while a further 242 arrests were made on Monday.

At least 30 police officers suffered minor injuries during the carnival. There were 37 arrests recorded for assaults on police.

The British Transport Police also arrested 22 people on Monday.

They made arrests for alleged offences such as assaulting emergency service workers and possession of a dangerous weapon.

In one incident, a 17-year-old boy was arrested at Stratford station for possessing a bladed article following a stop and search.

Meanwhile, police confirmed there had been 34 arrests for offensive weapons, 10 for sexual offences and 31 public order arrests.

There was also a total of five arrests for robbery, five for GBH and 14 arrests for alleged common assault.

A number of festival-goers also left the carnival injured or needing medical attention.

Several were treated for dehydration as temperatures soared to near 33C.

The arrest comes after police were given greater stop and search powers under Section 60.

The Met Police’s lead officer for Notting Hill Carnival 2019, Commander Dave Musker, said in a statement that he was “disappointed” on the number of assaults police officers endured.

DON’T MISS
UK bank holiday weather: Could this be hottest August bank holiday? [FORECAST]
Notting Hill Carnival: What time does Notting Hill Carnival start? [ANALYSIS]
Notting Hill Carnival 2019 route map and start time [MAPPED]

The statement read: “Although I am happy with the smooth running of the festivities, I am, once again, extremely disappointed that a number of people feel that they can assault my officers who are working in very difficult circumstances to try and protect everyone in attendance.

“Officers put themselves on the frontline and should, under no circumstance be assaulted for protecting the public. We will adopt a zero-tolerance approach to any assault on police officers.”

Commander Musker went on the justify his use of Section 60, saying: “It is for reasons like this that I authorised a section 60 Criminal Justice and Public Order authority across the Notting Hill Carnival geographical area and areas of Harrow Road on the Monday (26 August).

“My job is to ensure everyone participating and attending can enjoy Carnival safely and the use of this authority provides reassurance to communities that we are constantly working to keep them safe.

“I have been very clear these orders are not used without detailed analysis of intelligence and where appropriate and proportionate and the seizure of offensive weapons provides Carnival goers and the wider public an insight into my decision to authorise a Section 60.

“The use of this authority should provide reassurance to our public that the Met are constantly working to keep them safe and should send a clear message to those intent on bringing weapons to Carnival, that we will do everything in our power to stop them and arrest them.

“I want to emphasise that Section 60 is used as a preventative power.

“We also increased the number of screening arches to deter those who may have been planning on coming to the event, armed with an offensive weapon.

“I am very pleased with the results of the screening arches and the Section 60 order; a number of offensive weapons were taken off the streets by my officers and a total of 353 arrests were made over the course of the weekend, which we expect could rise.

“I would like to thank our colleagues at the British Transport Police and City of London Police for their support over the weekend.

“I would also like to thank our colleagues at London’s Ambulance Service for their hard work in looking after carnival-goers who had suffered injuries and dehydration in the extreme heat.”

Source: Read Full Article

Related Posts