Updated on
Summary
More than 200,000 revellers enjoyed a peaceful start to the Notting Hill Carnival, with arrests lower than in previous years. Police had held just 39 people - mostly for drug related offences - by late evening on Sunday as Europe's biggest street carnival got under way in a blaze of colour and noise. Last year there were 108 arrests on the opening day. But news that music volumes could be taken down a notch did not put off the crowds, who swelled throughout the day to watch thousands of dancers in action. Giant Popeye puppets and chocolate-smeared dancers joined scores of costumed masquerade artists as the streets of the west London district were transformed by brightly-coloured outfits and booming baselines. A change to this year's event saw processions begin earlier than normal as police launched a major security operation around the event.
