Notting Hill Carnival chief 'surprised' after top Met police officer says street party is unsafe

A top Met Police officer has said Notting Hill Carnival is not safe – as he warned of “significant” violence and fears of a “mass casualty” crowd crush.

Assistant commissioner Matt Twist told a meeting on Wednesday this year’s carnival – the biggest street party in Europe, which takes place annually in west London on the August bank holiday weekend – “did not have enough stewards”.

He told the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee hearing the level of serious crime at the event was “too high”, as he said 889 crimes were reported at this year’s event, with 353 arrests made.

Eight people were stabbed at this year’s Carnival.

Two people - mother Cher Maximen and top chef Mussie Imnetu - died following separate attacks .

Mr Twist said his chief concern was crowd density, and “the potential for a mass casualty event”.

"Crime often gets the headlines but actually the thing that worries me most is the crowd density and the potential for a mass casualty event," he told the meeting, as reported by the BBC.

"We did have to step in a number of times to reduce crowd density in order to save life.”

Mr Twist said Carnival was an "incredibly challenging event to police" bringing "significant violence, crime and crowd safety challenges", with huge, dense crowds making it difficult for officers to police the event.

Mr Twist said moving the event to a new location is among “many” options that could help make it more safe.

“Our priority is to ensure that the carnival is safe, that the roles and responsibilities are clear, and that we’re talking with all partners to highlight the challenges we see every year, and working as a partnership to play our role in line with our statutory responsibilities,” Mr Twist told the committee meeting, according to The Telegraph.

“So the location is one question, but there are many other questions and many other things that could be done in order to increase safety or not.

“So I don’t want to get drawn on one thing. But what I am clear on, I think, is that at the moment, I cannot say it’s safe.

“I think everybody agrees that the level of serious crime is too high. So we need to work with the organisers and all of those with statutory and partnership responsibilities to consider what more collectively we can do to increase the safety for those hundreds of thousands of people that are coming to have a fantastic day.”

More than two million people, including thousands of tourists, are understood to attend the event in W10 each year.

Mr Twist said that despite liaising with Carnival organisers earlier this year and urging them to ensure enough stewards were in place, around 1,200 Met officers had to take on “entirely stewarding roles”.

“If we are able to use officers to deal with their core responsibilities linked to crime, disorder, keeping the king’s peace and saving life rather than others’ core responsibilities linked to crowd safety or first aid or wayfinding, then we may have a better chance of reducing crime,” he said, according to The Telegraph.

“Whereas at the moment officers are having to deal with, or are drawn into, other people’s areas of responsibility.”

Cher Maximen, 32, died after being stabbed at the Carnival in front of her three-year-old daughter last month, as she tried to save a man from being attacked.

Chef Mussie Imnetu, who had worked under the likes of Gordon Ramsay, died from “catastrophic brain injuries” after he was found unconscious near the Carnival in Queensway on Bank Holiday Monday.

Speaking following their deaths, Carnival organisers said: “Notting Hill Carnival is shocked by these tragic deaths and our thoughts are with the victims‘ families and the local community as a whole, which like so many others, has suffered all too often from the blight of violent crime.

“We stand together against all violence and condemn these acts, which are against all carnival values and the millions of people who come in celebration of them.”

Ian Comfort, chairman of Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said he was “surprised” by Mr Twist’s comments.

“Although we are the organisers of Carnival we work in partnership with a range of agencies including the Metropolitan Police. Our planning starts in January each year. Our plans are reviewed by the Safety Advisory Group of which the Metropolitan Police are members.

“That group has not said that our plans are unsafe. We also report to the Gold Group, which comprises senior officers of all agencies, again including the Metropolitan, City of London and British Transport police, I am also a member of that group.

“That group has not said that our plans are unsafe. We acknowledge that AC Twist wrote to us in February this year proposing reductions in police numbers.

“However, he was fully aware that we did not have the resources allocated to us to compensate for a reduction in 1200 police officers.

“We are working with partners to see how we can secure that in future events.”

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