Eight people including mother stabbed at Notting Hill Carnival with 334 arrested
The 32-year-old woman remains in a critical condition after being stabbed on Sunday
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Eight people were stabbed over the course of the two-day Notting Hill Carnival, with three victims remaining in a life-threatening condition in hospital.
One of those victims includes a 32-year-old mother, who had attended the community festival with her child, who narrowly avoided death after being stabbed on Sunday.
The Metropolitan Police said 334 people were arrested over the weekend. Officers recovered three firearms on Monday - one during a vehicle stop in Harrow involving people travelling to the event, and two at the carnival itself.
Police also responded to two other incidents where victims had sustained slash wounds and another involving a corrosive substance.
On Monday, a man wanted for an attempted murder in Hackney in July was spotted and arrested, while a number of other arrests were made for drug and offensive weapon offences.
Over the course of the weekend, 50 officers received injuries and are being supported by the force.
It came as thousands of revellers turned out for the final day of the carnival, flooding the streets with colour, costumes, dancing and music.
A heavy police presence was visible after three people were stabbed on Sunday.
Some attendees were made to walk through metal-detecting “knife arches” as they arrived at the west London event.
Officers standing in pairs were dotted along the streets, while a police helicopter hovered above throughout the day.
In a statement, the force said weapons had been seized throughout the day.
Thousands of people thronged the area for Adults’ Day on Monday afternoon, billed as the culmination of the annual celebration of Caribbean culture and history.
After months of preparation, dancers showed off their flamboyant costumes and floats blasted music for spectators who blew whistles and horns.
Earlier on Monday, a senior Met officer said he was “tired of saying the same words every year” after a woman attending the carnival with her child was stabbed.
Deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is in charge of the policing operation for the event, said a fatality was “very narrowly avoided” and officers are “tired of seeing crime scenes” at the street party.
Calling for carnival-goers to report crime, Mr Adelekan said: “Yesterday we saw the first day marred by unacceptable violence.
“Three people were stabbed and we only very narrowly avoided a fatality.”
A 29-year-old man who was also stabbed remains in hospital in a non-life-threatening condition, and a second man, aged 24, who was stabbed discharged himself from hospital.
There were 104 arrests on Sunday and 18 officers were assaulted, Scotland Yard said, with the total number of arrests for the two days now standing at 334, the force added.
The carnival is billed by organisers as “the greatest community-led event on the planet”.
Around a million people were expected to attend over the bank holiday weekend with about 7,000 officers on duty.
The annual celebration has been running for more than 50 years.