Officers are gearing up for the second day of Notting Hill Carnival following 169 arrests on Sunday, though they characterised the overall mood as "overwhelmingly positive and celebratory".
The Metropolitan Police confirmed that by 7.45pm on Sunday evening, people had been detained for alleged crimes such as drug possession, carrying weapons, assaults and sexual offences.
Held across two main days, the yearly west London celebration is Europe’s largest street festival, described by organisers as "the greatest community-led event on the planet".
The festivities are set to continue right through bank holiday Monday.
In a statement on Sunday , the Met Police said: “While officers responded to a number of incidents as would be anticipated at an event of this scale, the mood has been overwhelmingly positive and celebratory.”
The majority of arrests had taken place within the event perimeter and officers had responded to two knife assaults, a slashing to the leg and one to the hand, neither of which resulted in life-changing or threatening injuries, according to the force.
Commander Claire Smart, who is in charge of the policing operation, said the force had been working closely with organisers ahead of the carnival and progress had been made, including in crowd management.
On Sunday she said: “While we have seen a significant number of arrests and interventions by officers, the result of that proactive approach is a welcome reduction in the levels of serious violence seen at the event in previous years.
“Nobody involved in the delivery of the event is complacent, however.
“There are still many officers deployed across the footprint to ensure crowds disperse safely.”
Last week, the force said more than 7,000 officers would be deployed to west London over the bank holiday weekend.
The carnival, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, includes parades, live music, street food and sound stages.
In 2025, the Met said it made 528 arrests across the two main days of the carnival, including 167 for drug offences, 50 for possession of an offensive weapon, 21 for sexual offences, four for violence with injury and 49 for other violence.
In 2024, there were eight stabbings, including the murder of 32-year-old mother Cher Maximen, with the same number the previous year, and seven including a murder in 2022.
