ANOTHER Notting Hill Carnival, another slew of news headlines about violence at the festival.
This year’s rendition of the vibrant celebration was marred by incidents of the worst kind, with a young mother fatally stabbed, dozens of police injured and a tourist found dead.
The carnival, which is supposed to celebrate Caribbean culture and heritage, is too often tainted by disorder.
It is time to face the harsh reality: The Notting Hill Carnival needs to be moved to a secure, ticketed location.
As a young black immigrant, I appreciate more than most the cultural significance of this event.
On paper, Notting Hill Carnival (Europe’s largest street festival) is a vibrant family-friendly display of music, dance and food that celebrates Caribbean heritage.
But we cannot ignore the dark underbelly of this celebration, which has increasingly overshadowed its positive aspects.
This year’s carnival saw eight people stabbed over two days, 334 arrests (mostly for weapons and drugs), three firearms recovered and 50 police officers injured.
Among the victims was Cher Maximen, 32, a young mother, fatally stabbed in front of her three-year-old daughter as she got caught up in a fight.
Another victim, Mussie Imnetu, 41, a chef from Dubai, was found unconscious with severe head injuries.
These incidents are not anomalies, they have sadly become an accepted annual by-product of the carnival.
That’s not just my view. Even the senior officer responsible for policing the carnival voiced frustration following the event.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan said: “We are tired of saying the same words every year . . . We are tired of seeing crime scenes at Carnival.”
Violence at the Notting Hill Carnival has been a persistent problem. Last year there were ten stabbings and in 2019, a shocking 18.
The violence highlights a troubling pattern. Knife offences saw a 20 per cent spike in London in 2023. Since London mayor Sadiq Khan took office eight years ago, knife crime in the capital has gone up 38 per cent.
Mayor Khan’s record is nothing short of dismal. But, instead of meaningful action, we get empty platitudes and PR.
It is easier for him to virtue-signal about London’s cultural diversity than to confront the grim reality that the city he governs is persistently hijacked by knife-wielding thugs.
And what of Sir Keir Starmer, who has of late jumped at every chance to brandish his tough-on-crime credentials?
Since the carnival, the PM has tweeted about other important events from his sadness about hostages in Gaza to condolences regarding Sven-Goran Eriksson’s death.
He even found time to, on several occasions, praise our Paralympians in France.
Yet, it took him until late last week to condemn the bursts of violence that have left two families devastated and a three-year-old girl without a mother.
Hardly doing his part to discredit allegations of being “two-tier Keir”.
Some argue that this level of violence is an inevitable consequence of hosting such a massive event. They label those of us who call for change as culturally ignorant party-poopers and killjoys.
“It’s a few bad apples. These things happen”, they will say.
Sure, too often at festivals like these, we see deaths, often from drug overdoses.
It’s time to move the Notting Hill Carnival to a safer, ticketed location.
Mercy Muroki
But try to recall the last time a young mother was stabbed in front of a child by a random knife-wielding thug at, say, Glastonbury or Reading Festival. It simply does not happen.
We are living in an age of blades. Knife crime in England and Wales has nearly doubled in the past ten years.
This is not about the media cherry-picking incidents to wrongly whip up fears around violence.
Khan could not put up a worse performance on tackling it in the capital if he tried — and nothing suggests he is trying.
That is why it’s time to move the Notting Hill Carnival to a safer, ticketed location.
Some have already suggested one of the city’s big parks, such as Hyde Park, where many big ticketed events take place safely.
This would allow for proper security measures and crowd control where police could monitor the event more effectively, and criminals would find it harder to disappear into the crowded streets.
London’s already overburdened police force — around 7,000 of whom were on duty to police the carnival — could focus their efforts more effectively.
This is not an attack on cultural celebration. It is a necessary step to ensure that the event can be enjoyed safely and without the constant threat of violence.
We will not eradicate the violence, but politicians can send the message that it will not be tolerated — and that those who use the event to unleash violence will be dealt with swiftly and strongly.
It is time for politicians to stop pandering to cultural sensitivities and acknowledge that the Notting Hill Carnival, in its current open, free-for-all form, is outdated.
Keir Starmer has said that Labour must make “tough decisions” now that he is in power.
If he is serious, he can start by endorsing the tough but right decision to move Notting Hill Carnival to a safer home.
