London’s famous Notting Hill Carnival is at risk of suffering a “Hillsborough scale tragedy” if health and safety is not to be improved, London Assembly Police and Crime Committee report says, warning that the event organisers “would be foolish to ignore these voices.”
The event that takes place over the August bank holiday weekend has been urged by the London Assembly to take further steps to ensure public safety. With the highest number of arrests made since 2010, four individuals were stabbed in 2016 and nearly 400 crimes were recorded at the carnival.
The report has shown that overcrowding is a major issue within the event. It says that volunteer organisation, London Notting Hill Carnival Enterprises Trust, who oversee the festival, do not have the “support and capacity” to control it.
Concerns surround the carnival’s routes with many members of the public were pushed out of the way by floats and other vehicles while safety barriers in other areas collapsed. A number of people had to be pulled out of danger by the police.
The street party attracts up to two million visitors each year and requires over 6,000 police officers across the weekend but Steve O’Connell, Chair of the Police and Crime Committee has called on London Mayor Sadiq Khan to do more.
“We want carnival to succeed, but it has reached a tipping point where the status quo is not an option. The previous mayor got a grip on London’s New Year’s Eve fireworks; the current mayor now needs to do the same with Notting Hill Carnival.”