excerpt from "London ‘Immigrant Showcase’ Carnival Ends in Carnage with 488 Arrests," BNP News
The Notting Hill Carnival, meant to be a “showcase of Britain’s immigrant community and diversity,” has ended in carnage and bloody street battles between police and black gangs, which resulted in at least 488 arrests.
Some 11,000 police officers were deployed at the event, costing taxpayers £6 million. They were attacked, glassed, pelted with missiles and confronted all day with everything from knife wielding black hoodlums and drunks, to dangerous dogs.
Knives, a Taser gun, CS spray and a baseball bat were among the weapons seized during the rioting which followed the end of the carnival, billed as Europe’s largest “celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture.”
A total of 488 arrests were made during the event — 330 in the Notting Hill area and 158 around Oval, where police prevented about 160 black youths from south London entering the main carnival area.
Officers bussed 151 of them to south London police stations where they were detained until the carnival was over. Seven were arrested for possession of bladed articles or public order offences.
Police were battered near the centre of the carnival in Ladbroke Grove after 40 black youths attacked them in planned formations for two hours, pelting them with everything they could find, including bottles, bricks, steel bars and other objects. One officer was glassed in the face.
Backup had to be called in the form of fully armoured riot police, who baton-charged the black mob before order was restored.
Witnesses described a ‘war zone’. One witness said: “It was a full-scale riot. Bottles were flying everywhere. Carnival-goers and police officers were bloodied. A policewoman was carried off unconscious.”
“Another had a two-inch gash above his eye. He was staggering and supported by two colleagues. The mob weren’t scared. They were running towards the police who were chanting ‘one, two, three’ and charging them. It was like a war zone. I haven’t seen anything like it at the carnival since the early Nineties. It reminded me of the Brixton riots.”
The 488 arrests were for offences ranging from assault, possessing an offensive weapon, drunk driving and theft, to public order and drugs. Even this figure is still being revised upwards.(more)
The Notting Hill Carnival, meant to be a “showcase of Britain’s immigrant community and diversity,” has ended in carnage and bloody street battles between police and black gangs, which resulted in at least 488 arrests.
Some 11,000 police officers were deployed at the event, costing taxpayers £6 million. They were attacked, glassed, pelted with missiles and confronted all day with everything from knife wielding black hoodlums and drunks, to dangerous dogs.
Knives, a Taser gun, CS spray and a baseball bat were among the weapons seized during the rioting which followed the end of the carnival, billed as Europe’s largest “celebration of Afro-Caribbean culture.”
A total of 488 arrests were made during the event — 330 in the Notting Hill area and 158 around Oval, where police prevented about 160 black youths from south London entering the main carnival area.
Officers bussed 151 of them to south London police stations where they were detained until the carnival was over. Seven were arrested for possession of bladed articles or public order offences.
Police were battered near the centre of the carnival in Ladbroke Grove after 40 black youths attacked them in planned formations for two hours, pelting them with everything they could find, including bottles, bricks, steel bars and other objects. One officer was glassed in the face.
Backup had to be called in the form of fully armoured riot police, who baton-charged the black mob before order was restored.
Witnesses described a ‘war zone’. One witness said: “It was a full-scale riot. Bottles were flying everywhere. Carnival-goers and police officers were bloodied. A policewoman was carried off unconscious.”
“Another had a two-inch gash above his eye. He was staggering and supported by two colleagues. The mob weren’t scared. They were running towards the police who were chanting ‘one, two, three’ and charging them. It was like a war zone. I haven’t seen anything like it at the carnival since the early Nineties. It reminded me of the Brixton riots.”
The 488 arrests were for offences ranging from assault, possessing an offensive weapon, drunk driving and theft, to public order and drugs. Even this figure is still being revised upwards.(more)
