Europe’s biggest street festival, the Notting Hill Carnival, has opened.
Children drummed, danced adults, spectators marveled: The Notting Hill Carnival in London celebrated more than a million visitors.
Even some police officers were able to resist the charm of the largest street festivals in the world not escape – and were moved to dance.
They had been worried: Would the weather hold? In London, not known for lack of rain, a legitimate question. But the organizers of the Notting Hill Carnival could breathe again: At the start of the spectacle, there was great weather.
The festival originated in 1964. At that time, celebrated the Caribbean Community. Meanwhile, the festival has grown so strong that it is the largest event of its kind in Europe.
Bands, colorful floats and costumed participants make it a spectacle in central London. The organizers expected more than a million visitors to its “incredible collection of sounds, colorful sights and social solidarity.”
For an event of this size, it remained relatively peaceful. According to police, around a hundred people were arrested. Some officers were already employed elsewhere: you were persuaded by participants to dance.
The police, according to a report in the “Guardian”, a special officer to supervise the event. The forces police to identify known persons on surveillance videos. According to the newspaper they have access to images of 80 fixed cameras as well as video from mobile teams of the police.