Notting Hill Carnival begins with burst of colour for J'ouvert celebrations
Revellers of all ages took to the streets for Notting Hill Carnival early on Sunday with a traditional, Caribbean celebration.
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The carnival, Europe’s biggest street party and an annual extravaganza over the summer bank holiday weekend, helps celebrate Caribbean culture and history.
The festival began early on Sunday with the J’ouvert celebration where people covered each other in paint, colourful powder and chocolate.
Children’s day is set to take place on Sunday and is followed by the main event on Monday.
The streets are set to be flooded with colour, costumes, dancing and music.
Read more: Met arrests 100 people ahead of Notting Hill Carnival in bid to deter trouble
About one million people are expected to be on the streets of west London for the event, the Metropolitan Police said previously.
About 7,000 police officers will be on duty across the capital this Sunday and Monday.
The Met said live facial recognition (LFR) technology – which captures people’s faces in real-time CCTV cameras – will be used on the approach to and from the carnival as well as outside the boundaries of the event.
Alongside the use of LFR technology, the Met also said it planned to install screening arches at some of the busiest entry points to the carnival, where stop-and-search powers will be used in a bid to keep weapons out.
The annual celebration has been running for more than 50 years.
