Sadiq Khan has said he is worried about a “potential disaster” at Notting Hill Carnival due to a “large” number of people in its “small footprint”. The Mayor of London also mentioned crowds, those that occurred in Hillsborough in 1989 and Brixton Academy in 2022 when he told the London Assembly that the safety of participants will be discussed at a “debriefing” with the organisers.
Conservative London MP Keith Prince told Khan yesterday (Thursday, September 12): “My children are of Caribbean descent, so I’m a big believer in Carnival and everything it represents, actually, and I think it’s something that should carry But, may I ask you, Mr. Mayor, have you or the team looked at alternative locations for the carnival?”
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“I’m not aware that the organizers, certainly since I’ve been mayor, are looking at alternatives to the location of the carnival. I know the previous government wanted the carnival moved. I think the London minister, Greg Hands, suggested that the carnival move somewhere elsewhere from Notting Hill.
“I think it was rejected by the carnival organizers when it was proposed by the previous government.” AM Prince then “pressed” Mr Khan on whether he had a view on it as the Greater London Authority provides “a significant amount of funding”.
“You have finite space, and you have more and more people who want to come to the carnival”
The mayor added: “I’m quite clear in relation to every event that we support across our city, that the organizers are really important in relation to these conversations. There will be a debriefing, and during the debriefing there will be proper conversations about a of the big issues that I think I first saw in 2016, when I became mayor, is the issue of Carnival being a victim of its success.
“There are many people who go to a small footprint (…) In 2016, when I saw the number of people at Carnival, I was worried. So we asked for a report to be made in relation to the dynamics of the crowd. I am fully aware of what happened at Hillsborough in 1989, because I’m just a football fan, and the team I support, it’s obviously of personal interest to me.
“I’m also fully aware of what happened at Brixton Academy not too long ago in relation to the terrible loss of life. And so, those sorts of issues we’ll discuss at the debriefing, because you have finite space, and you have more and more people wanting to come to the carnival, because it’s so amazing.”
2 people were killed at or near the carnival this year
Two people were killed at or near the carnival this year. A mother was stabbed at this year’s Notting Hill Carnival when she tried to intervene in a fight. Cher Maximen was attending with her three-year-old daughter and other family and friends on Sunday, August 25, when she was stabbed in the groin in broad daylight.
A chef who worked under Gordon Ramsay also died after he was attacked in a separate incident near Carnival while people were partying. Mussie Imnetu, 41, was found unconscious with a head injury outside the Dr Power restaurant in Queensway at 11.22pm on Monday 26 August.
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