Summer is wrapping up and Londoners know what that means: Carnival is back to shine some sun through West London, all feathers and NOS cannisters, drums, whistles and dancing. It’s the world’s second biggest street party (topped only by Rio Carnival), an annual celebration of Caribbean culture and history in Britain.
This year – which marks 75 years since the first Windrush arrivals – the joyful parade was twinged with a rebellious edge. Parading past Notting Hill’s millionaire doorsteps hits harder in a worsening rental crisis, where many are being priced out of shoebox-sized rooms even in the suburbs. On Sunday and Monday, the booming speakers went silent for 72 seconds to mark the victims of Grenfell, the tower of former council flats is still visible from many of the streets in London’s richest borough.
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As happens every year, today the headlines lead by totting up the instances of crime from the weekend. This was a given before the party even started: Last week, Tory London mayoral candidate Susan Hall called Carnival “dangerous”, despite the fact that crime rates at Carnival tend to be lower per person than many other, whiter UK festivals.
Still, all this never outshines the celebration on the streets: This year, the crowd marched their way past police officers draped in flags from all over the Caribbean, waving blunts and feather boas in the air, a noisy representation of the diversity of London. VICE photographer Aiyush Pachnanda was there to capture the fun and chaos.
