Notting Hill Carnival revellers fell silent on Monday as they paid tribute to victims of the Grenfell Tower blaze for the second year running.
The lively party atmosphere was briefly halted at 3pm in memory of the 72 people who lost their lives in last year’s tower block fire, which raged within half a mile of the parade route.
Some carnival-goers continued to party despite the music being turned off, witnesses said, with announcements by DJs barely audible.
Police made 133 arrests and recovered 16 knives at the west London event on Sunday, with 42 people detained on drugs offences, 20 on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and seven on public order offences.
Two were arrested on suspicion of sexual offences, three for common assault and 12 on suspicion of possessing psychoactive drugs.
Officers were operating with advanced stop-and-search powers in the vicinity of the event and metal-detecting ‘knife arches’ were also put in place to weed out those potentially carrying weapons.
Police on the ground were assisted throughout by the helicopter unit.
Notting Hill Carnival Gold Commander Dave Musker said: “On Sunday, my officers along with colleagues from the British Transport Police arrested 133 individuals for a range of offences and 20 weapons were seized, including knives.
“I am confident that the Section 60 order imposed yesterday prevented these dangerous items being brought to carnival, and based on the intelligence at my disposal, I consider it proportionate and necessary to ensure a safe carnival today.”
The bank holiday weekend event was policed by the highest number of officers in six years.
Nearly 7,000, some from the Metropolitan Police’s newly formed Violent Crime Task Force policed Monday’s event to “combat the threat of violent crime”, up from 6,100 at the less busy family day on Sunday.
Undercover police and officers from firearms and dog units were also in place.
The event was expected to attract more than a million revellers to its floats, food stalls and music over the course of the two days.