Notting Hill Carnival not the cause of knife crime, event boss says

Local TV

Notting Hill Carnival is not the cause of knife crime, said the festival’s chief executive, as he announced greater safety measures ahead of this year’s event.

Transcript

00:00We'd already had strategies and things in place of improvements we wanted to make so

00:05that's what the request was about so we could help to make this event that does so much for

00:10the UK economy for people's hearts and minds for the well-being of people

00:15that's why we needed the money to make sure that it could happen in a safe way.

00:21The Notting Hill Carnival has faced criticism for a number of violent incidents over the past

00:29few years. There were two murders at last year's event. Chef Maximin was killed in front of her

00:36three-year-old daughter. Professional and acclaimed chef Musi Imnetu, who had worked

00:44with chefs such as Gordon Ramsay, was another victim murdered at the carnival during a row outside

00:53a restaurant. Concerns over safety at the carnival have also contributed to insecurity about its

01:01future and the festival's organisers wrote to the government earlier this year to ask for urgent

01:09funding. Funding has now been granted for extra security measures.

01:14Carnival has always been a contested space you know I put some of it down to lazy journalism to be

01:24frank people get something that you know they you know they think I would say sells papers because

01:29but papers don't sell it's about click bait and and what's going to get the most views you know I

01:35think people jump on that narrative and you know they you know they don't really tell the true story of

01:40carnival you know we reject the narrative that carnival is a problem you know for us carnival is a gift

01:46it's a gift to London and it should be respected as the legacy there is. What's a bad rap you know

01:5116,789 knife related crimes in London alone last year you know what you know for me carnival is a reflection

02:01of society whether you're talking about music fashion and unfortunately our society is is is a violent

02:09society at the moment there's a problem with knife crime there's a problem with youth violence we're

02:15not going to stop that by blaming Notting Hill Carnival. For me it's a it's a collective response

02:20some of the extra things that we're doing for stewarding is going to allow the police to get on

02:24with their role their their true role of you know of crime detection and prevention

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