London - The London Metropolitan Police yesterday defended its handling of the Notting Hill Carnival after officers investigating the murder of an Asian man at the festival said they were treating his death as a racist incident, Rachel Donnelly reports.
At a Scotland Yard press conference a senior police officer said the fact that the police had made more than 100 arrests proved that they had not adopted a "softly, softly" approach to policing the Carnival. The large numbers of people attending the festival meant intervening in crowds could have caused panic, Det Chief Ins Steve Condon said, but officers were instructed to make arrests at a later time mainly by using evidence gathered from CCTV cameras.
Mr Condon said officers would be examining video footage of a group of 50 youths at the festival. They were filmed throwing missiles at Asian store holders before beating and kicking an Asian man, Mr Abdul Bhatti (28), to death.