The Metropolitan Police has arrested at least 169 on the first day of Notting Hill Carnival.
As of 7.45pm on Sunday, the arrests had been made for offences including possession of drugs, possession of weapons, assaults and sexual offences, Scotland Yard said.
Officers responded to two knife assaults, a slashing to the leg and one to the hand.
Neither of the incidents resulted in life-changing or threatening injuries.
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The annual west London festival attracts around 2 million people and is billed as the “greatest community-led event on the planet”.
The majority of arrests made on Sunday’s “Families and Children’s Day” were within the event perimeter, the Met Police said.
Many of those arrested were suspected of serious crimes including possession of weapons, sexual assault and upskirting, according to the Mail, citing a police source.
In a statement on Sunday evening, the Met Police said: “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, leading the policing operation, said the force had worked closely with the organisers of the festival, which has run since 1966.
“The organisers have stepped forward significantly across the event, including crowd management, and we have seen the positive progress today,” she said.
“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.”
Officers remain on duty overnight and will be in place tomorrow to “tackle the minority” who wish to “spoil the celebration”, she added.
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The Met Police has taken a more proactive approach to policing the crowded event after 528 arrests in 2025 and eight stabbings in 2024.
This approach included banning more than 330 people from the event as part of bail conditions, with chief executive Matthew Phillip saying it was “unfair that Carnival is always targeted as a cause” of violence.
Live facial recognition (LFR) was used to police the festival for the first time in 2025 and remains in use this year – the technology identified 98 people, including 30 registered sex offenders, last year.
Earlier at the carnival, London Fire Brigade rushed to an area just south of the parade route after reports of a van catching fire at 5.17pm.
The Metropolitan Police later confirmed the blaze started with a barbecue fire.
A spokesman said: “The fire did not involve a police van and no apartments were on fire.
“It was a BBQ that caught fire and spread to a van next to it. There is no suspicion it was intentional.”
Earlier this week, Scotland Yard said 7,000 officers had been deployed to west London over the long weekend.
Day two of the festival, the “Adult’s Parade”, is on bank holiday Monday.
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