Go Operation 'blue Thunder'! - Notting Hill Carnival

[agchristie]

SAS to assist in a 'ring of steel'.

All in safe hands this year....

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/704642/SAS-at-Notting-Hill-Carnival-Ring-of-steel-at-London-festival-over-terror-attack-fears

[agchristie]

No intelligence known according to the article yet the Express still headlines with 'Terror attack fears'!

[anotheoldgit]

/// Yesterday Police raided buildings and seized guns, ammunition and a machete in the Notting Hill neighbourhood in west London. ///

Now there's a surprise, as I suggest every year this problem carnival should be banned.

I think we will soon see the dancing policemen with the girls wearing the policemen's helmets.

Awaits for sp's intervention.

[agchristie]

AOG - yes,raids in advance.Sounds like trouble to me....

I wonder if any policing do's and don'ts have changed this year?

[-Talbot-]

We should stop pussyfooting about and ban all fun carnivals.

Actually just ban fun ... I'm going to get the ball rolling by staying in today because there is bound to be an idiot or two out today that just wants to cause friction.

[jno]

Britain has been banning fairs and carnivals since time immemorial, because of unruly behaviour. May Fair in London was booted out of town in 1764 because the neighbourhood was going upmarket and all this jollity and frivolity was lowering the tone.

They've done the opposite on November 5, discouraging private celebrations and putting them in the hands of central authorities.

[agchristie]

Jno > Britain has been banning fairs and carnivals since time immemorial, because of unruly behaviour.

So,why not Notting Hill which has had more than its fair share of unruly behaviour?

[ichkeria]

The last rites of summer: the annual thread about the Notting Hill Carnival :-)
Sadly all public gatherings are deemed a risk from terrorists these days and they don't get much bigger than the NHC

[ichkeria]

If you start banning events merely because you think they might be attacked then you are immediately giving in to fear

[anotheoldgit]

-Talbot-

/// We should stop pussyfooting about and ban all fun carnivals. ///

Wasn't much fun for these five unfortunates.

Five murders have taken place since 1987:

30 August 1987 - Michael Augustine Galvin, 23, stallholder - stabbed.

26 August 1991 - Nicholas John Hanscomb, 38, bled to death after being stabbed in the thigh.

28 August 2000 - Greg Fitzgerald Watson, 21, stabbed to death after an argument over food.

28 August 2000 - Abdul Munam Bhatti, 28, beaten to death in a racially motivated attack by a group of 40-50 youths.

30 August 2004 - Lee Christopher Surbaran, 27, shot by a gang using a machine pistol for "showing disrespect".

[anotheoldgit]

ichkeria

/// If you start banning events merely because you think they might be attacked then you are immediately giving in to fear ///

It is not a question over the fear that the carnival might be attacked.

Just research the carnivals crime history.

[bazwillrun]

"No intelligence known according to the article"

as if the secruity will let it be know what intelligence they may or may not have...

this carnival would have been banned years ago if was anything but a black issue..really is that simple...innit...its a trash magnet..always has been always will be

[ichkeria]

In terms of actual murders it would seem to be comparatively save: no deaths in 12 years. Given an estimated annual attendance of 10-12 million, that's 20 million people and zero fatalities.
Personally it wouldn't be my thing but, present company excepted of course, it seems to attract criticism from racists who think it's only black people who go, and others who remember the troubled early years when it was unofficial. Put such massive groups of people together in one place and you definitely have security issues, but they seem light compared to many smaller gatherings

[agchristie]

Let alone the cost issue.Nothing ever said about that.

However,as soon as a far right march is mentioned....

[ichkeria]

Up to 2 million pa I meant (!)

[ichkeria]

The cost is generally accepted to be a fraction of the money it generates. Still, one can have a positive or a negative attitude I guess

[trt]

## Yesterday Police raided buildings and seized guns, ammunition and a machete in the Notting Hill neighbourhood in west London. ##

What's news about that, I thought this happened every weekend!

[anotheoldgit]

ichkeria

In England we have had carnivals from years on end, but I can never remember any murders, sexual assaults, drug offences etc etc.

Perhaps a few scuffles maybe, brought on by the strength of the local cider.

[bazwillrun]

"it seems to attract criticism from racists who think it's only black people who go"

oh really, can you point me towards anything to back that typically from people like you, ridculous statement up ?.....

[agchristie]

AOG > Perhaps a few scuffles maybe, brought on by the strength of the local cider

Or in the Notting Hill Carnival's case,it's a rum do...

[ichkeria]

But the carnival is a biggie, isn't it, so you cannot really compare it with the Much Muddling May Festival, for example.
I don't have crime figures for sporting events like particular annual football matches for example, but I'd be surprised if the comparisons were favourable.