Police have made 169 arrests on day one of London‘s annual Notting Hill Carnival – with revellers held over possession of weapons, drugs and sex offences.
The Met Police confirmed the total number as of 7.45pm on Sunday, with the vast majority of arrests occurring within the event’s perimeter and 27 taking place on approaches to the site.
The force said officers responded to two knife assaults at the carnival – which is Europe’s biggest street party – including a slashing to the leg and one to the hand.
Neither offence resulted in life-changing or threatening injuries.
The Met confirmed on Friday that more than 7,000 officers will be present at the carnival this bank holiday weekend, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary and expected to be bustling with live music, parades, street food and sound stages.
Police have set up numerous dedicated points where arrested and detained revellers are held. On Lancaster Road, a tent has been set up to detain people who have been arrested for serious offences before they are taken to a police station.
Between 3.30pm and 5pm, a spate of eight arrests occurred there.
One officer told the Daily Mail that people being arrested and taken to the tent were suspected of serious crimes. He gave possession of knives, sexual assault and upskirting as common reasons for arrest.
He said the tent was one of six in the area, and over the course of the day had been used to detain about 25 people.
Some 169 arrests have been made on day one of London’s annual Notting Hill Carnival
Revellers have been held over possession of weapons, drugs and sex offences
The Met Police said officers responded to two knife assaults at the carnival (Pictured: A facial recognition van installed for the carnival)
An estimated two million people set to attend the event (Pictured: Revellers pack into Ladbroke Grove for day one of the carnival)
Crowds were colourful for day one
He added a concern for officers is the risk of gang related violence, as rival gang members may encounter each other at the event.
Medics and ambulance workers were also spotted entering the tent.
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.
In a statement released on Sunday evening, the Met Police said despite the incidents, the mood is ‘overwhelmingly positive and celebratory’.
It read: ‘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.’
Commander Claire Smart, who is in charge of the policing operation, added: ‘We have been working closely with Notting Hill Carnival Ltd and other partners for many months ahead of this weekend’s event.
‘The organisers have stepped forward significantly across the event, including crowd management, and we have seen the positive progress today.
‘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.
‘We will have officers on duty through the night and tomorrow we will go again to ensure we can continue to tackle the minority who want to come to Carnival to spoil the celebration for the majority.’
But, it wasn’t all bad. Steel drums echoed across west London this morning as Notting Hill Carnival got off to a colourful start with revellers dousing each other in neon paint in the first street party of the two day event.
Images show people dancing in glittering outfits and playing steel drums to kick off the Families and Children’s Day parade.
Meanwhile, early birds arrived at the street party at 6am and began throwing body paint at each other and setting off colourful smoke flares as part of J’Ouvert, a vibrant pre-dawn ritual.
Some are fully covered in black paint and wearing horns to represent Jab Jab – from the French word diable, meaning devil.
The costume dates back to the 1838 abolition of slavery across the Caribbean when people took to the streets in all black to celebrate their freedom from devilish oppressors.
This year marks 60 years since Notting Hill Carnival began in 1966 and, while Saturday saw a quieter start with young performers taking to the stage at the traditional Panorama ticketed steelband competition, Sunday drew far bigger crowds as the carnival takes to the streets.
It is estimated that around two million revellers will attend the event with 7,000 Metropolitan Police officers and staff on duty.
More than 3,000 stewards – double the usual number – have also been deployed after crowd control responsibilities were transferred from Scotland Yard to the event organisers following an extra £4.66million grant announced by Sir Sadiq Khan in March.
But Susan Hall, leader of the Conservative group at the London Assembly, said she remained concerned about the security risks and called on the Mayor to ‘get a grip on this once and for all before more people are injured or die needlessly’.
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