AIBU to feel angry about Notting Hill Carnival behaviour?

[ProudBlackMomma]

Any other London folk mortified by the Notting Hill carnival? Hundreds of arrests, lewd behaviour, vulgarity and litter. It does not represent my culture. It’s an embarrassment.

How do you know it was fact? Because he said so?

What would be a "more appropriate place" for the Notting Hill Carnival than Notting Hill?!

Yes, it's an urban event, that takes place in the streets of Notting Hill. It began as a celebration of the community who lived in the area. Anyone who's chosen to move there in the decades since has done so in the full knowledge that this event happens every summer. Many residents enjoy being part of carnival; some rent out their front gardens to sound systems and food stalls; others enjoy being able to watch the fun from upstairs windows/ balconies/ roofs. Others go away for the weekend.

If you don't live there, and don't like loud music, crowded places, the aroma of people smoking cannabis, skimpy costumes or "lewd dancing", there's a very simple solution: just don't go. You don't get to demand that carnival gets shut down, or moved elsewhere.

It's not a mark of the culture, but a mark of the sheer number of people that need to be managed.

London employs roughly 3.6 police officers per 1,000 people.

7,000/2,000,000 is roughly 3.5 police officers per 1,000 attendees. Not as extraordinary as you make out, is it?

It didn't use to be the desirable area it is now. It was quite run down in the 1970s and into the 80s. The area has changed but the carnival continues. I'm not making any point just an observation.

The are lots of football matches that happen weekly with no arrests at all. Comparing this Carnival to all large gatherings of the public is a joke.

So you responded to the original post by quoting the number of arrests at football matches. And now that it's been pointed out that once you factor in the attendance at the respective events the arrest rate at football is a fraction of the rate at the NHC, suddenly they're not comparable.

I posted the number of football arrests because a poster said there were more arrests at carnival than football.

Yes-You are absolutely right-that didn't come out as I meant it-I just meant space wise-there are parks and green spaces and I just wondered if it could spread that way?
I completely agree that ppl move in with eyes open-although it has become bigger over the years-but very much like people moving near an airport and complaining about the planes...

No, that's not true. They said that they didn't recall 'the equivalent percentage ever happening at football'.

560 arrests? out of millions of people is extremely low its not even 1%

Any large gathering of people will have crime, mess, noise etc etc. its the nature of crowds.

Has anyone suggested it represents your culture? I've attended for many years it was especially great this year. a lovely energy all round from people, a few more roads open to ease the crowd pressure would help immensely.

Alright love. Calm down. There are and always have been multiple cultures within any country linked to faith, ancestry, socio-economic status, geographical region etc.

The friend does not exist.

As for “cultural sensitivities” - LOL! It maybe themed or historically around Caribbean culture but any brief glance shows it’s an incredibly diverse with loads of locals and tourists.

That right wing press again. No, it's an event that requires heavy policing due to the yearly crimes taking place. Any other such event would have long been cancelled.

notting hill carnival and carnivals of its type are not static. its not a music festival. It would ruin hyde park and then the racist would blaming it for that as well. Notting hill isn't 10s of thousand it's a million odd people. its not BST.

The issue is again, is the compressing of the space and crowds into a smaller and smaller area. there is too much pressure on the main arteries

If they don’t recall, then it’s a good job I provided the stats, isn’t it?

How awful. People getting bothered about only 560 arrests. What are we like.

Thanks for pointing that out. People seem to think the police presence says anything about the event theme ignoring the size and scale of the event!

They’ll be back soon to say ‘My best friend is black and he was mortified by the carnival’.

Bit like the Saturday Pro Palestinian marches?

someone shat in the street at carnival? how bizarre, I've been going for nearly 2 decades an have never seen that. but then again the council only provided some toilets in the past 5 years. prior to that people were renting out loos in their homes. maybe they had diarrhoea but thats an extremely rare occurrence.

the going rate this year was £5 or £10 for queue jump!

Which “majority of the country”?

It’s nothing to do with “cultural sensitivity” and everything to do with size, scale and popularity. It’s the world’s second largest street festival bringing in huge numbers of visitors from across the UK as well as overseas tourists each year. The people whining about it are not required to attend.

No idea.

😆😆😆

All that shows is you’re reasonably well educated. Says absolutely nothing about your culture.

Could you provide a link to the Blair speech please? I don’t remember it.

It’s also weird to mention Tony Blair’s speech in a topic about a street festival that predates Tony Blair by decades.