Thousands party at London street carnival despite security fears AFP Tuesday, August 30, 2005 LONDON, England (AFP) - Thousands danced in baking sunshine at London's Notting Hill Carnival yesterday at one of Europe's biggest street parties, despite security fears after the London bombings. The 41st Notting Hill festival in west London's streets, a huge street party celebrating West Indian culture, was entitled "Unity and Diversity" this year to celebrate London's multiculturalism. The Caribbean-flavoured party comes less than two months after the July 7 bomb attacks that killed 56 people, including four apparent suicide bombers, in blasts on the subway and a bus. A July 21 repeat attack failed. "July 7 has changed London in many respects, but the one aspect that will never change is the strength of this city, and its diversity," said Chris Mullard, the head of the organising committee. "And nothing embodies this better than the Notting Hill Carnival." Notting Hill was filled with revellers yesterday for the final festival day with thousands dancing in the streets to the beat of some 40 sound systems dotted around. The carnival takes place in the once-poor, now chic streets of the district captured in the 1999 film Notting Hill starring Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant. Festival-goers lined the streets under blue skies to watch a procession of floats and hundreds of costumed dancers, shimmying in feathers, silks and sequins. Although police said there was no specific threat to the carnival, about 4,500 officers were on duty, including 500 officers on public transport, and 80 surveillance cameras were installed. Ian Blair, London's Metropolitan Police commissioner, said the event was going "very well". Britain's top police officer absorbed the atmosphere during a 10-minute stroll along the carnival route. "The community has been very much behind the Metropolitan Police after the events of July 7 and 21, and I think this is a very good example of that," Blair said. "I am really sending out the same message to the terrorists as I have been all along which is that London will endure and prevail." Police said 81 people had been arrested for incidents including drugs and weapons offences to drunkenness and public disorder. Carla Goodchild, 23, from Stevenage, north of London, was making her first trip to the carnival. She said, "I've been having such a great day. I've been doing loads of dancing, eating wonderful food and soaking up the atmosphere. "Seeing all the floats and all the people in their costume is just incredible. "I thought it might feel a bit strange after the bombings, but the police have been wonderful, they've been making everyone feel safe and mixing in with the crowd." Debi Gardner, a board director of the London Notting Hill Carnival, said 200,000 people attended the festival on Sunday, children's day, and organisers were expecting at least triple that during yesterday's public holiday. "If we get a million people, that will be amazing," she said. The carnival kicked off on Saturday with a dawn procession of festival-goers daubed in mud and paint, backed by the heady beat of steel drum music. The festival was originally launched in 1959 by post-World War II immigrants from what were then Britain's Caribbean colonies, as a community act of defiance after ugly race riots the year before. It was held in various parts of London for a number of years before settling permanently in Notting Hill in 1964. Reprinted from jamaicaobserver.com