24th August, 2014
A million revellers were expected to join Europe’s biggest street party the Notting Hill Carnival in London from Sunday, filling the city with reggae, steel bands and dancing.
The annual celebration sees a five kilometre route through west London sealed off to traffic and taken over by booming sound systems and dancers in exotic headdresses.
The Notting Hill Carnival honours London’s Afro-Caribbean culture in an area which was home to thousands of immigrants to Britain from the Caribbean in the 1950s onwards.
But in recent years, many have moved out of Notting Hill due to soaring property prices as it became one of London’s most fashionable districts, popular with wealthy foreigners.
The area’s modern bohemian charm was captured in director Richard Curtis’s 1999 romantic comedy “Notting Hill”.
Sunday is children’s day at the carnival while the main event takes place on Monday, a public holiday in England.
“Carnival is a wonderful celebration and highlights what the Caribbean community does for London,” said London mayor Boris Johnson.
“I hope everyone has a fantastic time and a truly great event.”
Scotland Yard police arrested 126 people on Thursday in a crackdown on gang crime ahead of the carnival and seized weapons including two machine guns and a hand gun.
Over 6,000 officers will be on patrol at the event.