Notting Hill Carnival Warms The Summer Bank Holiday
Friday August 24, 2007
This weekend's Summer Bank Holiday, like Labor Day in the USA, traditionally marks summer's last hurrah. It occurred to me, as I turned on the heat to take the chill off, a few days ago, that, with the kind of wet cold summer we've been having, it's more like summer's last chance.
Nevermind. Over in London's Notting Hill, the dancers and marchers will be turning up the heat by dressing up in flamboyant Caribbean-style costumes, and strutting down the streets to the music of steel drums, Ska and Soca for the 41st annual Notting Hill Carnival - Europe's biggest street party. Find out all about:
Photo by Graeme Robertson/Getty Images
I have thought long and hard before I write this. I was at last years Notting Hill carnival, not the first time; I have been many times in the past but not for a few years now.
My problem is I don’t think I will be going again.
I felt a mistrust of many of the police there, some I felt were actually confrontational and actually pushing for a fight.
I saw some very stupid acts by the police, example, I saw two mounted officers ride horses through an extremely densely crowded area, one little mishap by a horse trampling someone and there would have been major riots.
One of the horses actually shit in the middle of this crowded area, people could not avoid being forced to walk through this, imagine how angry these people were.
Just for the record I am a white male of true British descent, my ancestors fought and died building our constitution, the freedom that is being slowly taken away from us bit by bit, I feel we have a police force that is out control by the public it is supposed to serve. Notting Hill Carnival me be a victim of it’s own success, but most true British that believe in true democracy and freedom are very proud that we have such a carnival, enjoyed by so many British people who appreciate our ethnic diversity and understand our history and what made one of the worlds greatest free countries.
Summer is approaching rapidly, the flowers are starting to bloom in my garden, I started to think about the approaching summer, where I would go, the proms in the park, some of the great London carnivals, not only Notting Hill, there are so many carnivals, so many cultures to appreciate, Latin American, Spanish, Caribbean, I had such good times last yare at many events, but I think I must say with a heavy heart, I saw the beginning of the end for Notting Hill.
The police did not care about the public, did not do a risk assessments of the consequences of putting horses in densely populated areas.
I grew up in the country, I can handle the most spirited horse, well maybe in my younger days, but I know any horse can be unpredictable and you do not put them in the situation I have talked about above, this was a good example of the police thinking they are superior and don’t have to think about the consequences of their actions, are the police the law makers, or are they the upholders of the law, the laws that are supposed to protect us, not put us in fear of a police state.
To sum up, there are good people and bad people in our society, the majority, I believe are good, lets not allow the bad to destroy this or we could be on another trip down histories memory lane.