A SPREE of violence has led to calls for banning the famous Notting Hill Carnival street parade.
Police officials, sections of the media, and other influencers are asking the authorities to debar further road portrayals after a spate of crime occurred at the just-ended event.
The 2022 staging of the Trinidad and Tobago-style mas saw murders, assaults and robberies, and hundreds of arrests for possession of weapons and of drugs, and disorderly conduct.
An estimated 2.2 million people participated in the Carnival, held at Ladbroke Grove, West London.
Scotland Yard police officials said the crime rate was the worst in recent years.
The event was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Ken Marsh, Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, renewed a call for the scrapping of the annual festival, branding the crime rate “unacceptable.”
Marsh said that 34 of the 11,000 officers assigned to the event were injured.
“Every year we argue that this event should not take place, but we are not listened to,” he stated.
He said that police officers “have been left extremely shocked by what they have seen and been subjected to.”
Marsh added that “the violence my colleagues face when policing this event seems to be the price we have to pay, and that is a completely unacceptable situation.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “Violence has no place on our streets and we are doing everything in our power to root it out.”
Dr. Alison Heydari, commander of the local policing in the Notting Hill area, said his officers had worked “tirelessly” ahead of the Carnival to ensure it was safe.
Roy Ramm, a former commander of specialist operations at the Metropolitan, said that officers “dread” policing the event.
Ramm added: “The drug sellers, the gangs, seem to reject the spirit of Carnival and take the opportunity to settle scores, to mark out territory and to bring out the knives.”
A number of T&T-based Carnival operatives take part in the festival, which was first held in 1958.
A Trinidadian migrant Claudia Jones had organised West Indians to rally on a human right issue.
The first outdoor event was held in 1966.
In 1975, the Carnival was turned into a major event through the efforts of school teacher Leslie Palmer.
The street parade attracts the participation of vast numbers of West Indian migrants to Britain and other European countries.
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