Colourful costumes, sunshine, smoke from Jerk grills and music have filled the streets of London for Notting Hill Carnival.
The carnival, Europe’s biggest street party and an annual extravaganza over the summer bank holiday weekend, helps celebrate Caribbean culture and history.
Olympian Usain Bolt made an appearance today, telling The Guardian: ‘Even before I’ve gone to Notting Hill carnival, I’ve heard about it so many times.
‘It’s something you see on TV, your friends tell you about it, and say: ‘You should come. It’s a different vibe.’
The world’s fastest sprinter said carnival ‘wouldn’t be the same’ if it were made a ticketed event or moved from the streets, as some locals have called for.
‘Knowing what carnival is – it’s about marching and the vibes and the energy – to put it in one space where people can’t move, it’s not going to be the same,’ he said.
‘I think it would definitely kill. A lot of people probably wouldn’t go that much.’
TV chef Big Zuu said he had been coming to carnival since he was one.
‘Multiculturalism is important,’ said the TV personality.
‘It’s a celebration of black culture in England which we need right now. We have got these idiots putting up English flags. We’re all British, we are part of Britain, this is a multicultural country.
‘This is the best celebration of multiculturalism in the country.’
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The festival began early on Sunday with the J’ouvert celebration, where people covered each other in paint, coloured powder and chocolate.
Children’s Day is taking place on Sunday and is followed by the main event on Monday.
About one million people are expected to be on the streets of west London for the event, the Metropolitan Police said previously, with about 7,000 police officers on duty across the capital on Sunday and Monday.
The Metropolitan Police said as of 7.45 pm this evening, there had been 140 arrests – 105 at the carnival and 35 on approaches to carnival as a result of proactive policing interventions.
Fifteen arrests were for assaults on police, with one officer requiring hospital treatment for injuries to their hand, while there were 21 for possession of an offensive weapon, 25 for possession of cannabis and six for possession of class A drugs.
Four people were arrested on suspicion of sexual offences, and two for robbery.
The force said additional powers had been authorised, which remain in force until 2 am on Monday and again from 10 am on Monday to 2 am Tuesday.
Live facial recognition (LFR) technology – which captures people’s faces in real-time CCTV cameras – is being used on the approach to and from the carnival as well as outside the boundaries of the event.
But the Equality and Human Rights Commission has said the Metropolitan Police’s plan to extend the use of live facial recognition cameras breaches human rights law.
The watchdog said the use of the cameras could have a ‘chilling effect’ on individuals’ rights if and when deployed.
Last year’s event was ‘marred by unacceptable violence’, senior officers said, after Cher Maximen died after being stabbed in front of her three-year-old daughter.
Mussie Imnetu, a Dubai-based chef, was also randomly attacked and sustained fatal head injuries last year.
Officers hope the cameras, which are mostly attached to vans, will help control crime at the event as they scan faces and match them to criminal databases.
Officers say the use of LFR has led to 1,000 arrests and 773 charges, but campaigners say the UK’s capital is entering a new era of total surveillance.
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