Notting Hill Carnival: Barriers to 'stop terrorism'

The three-day carnival runs until bank holiday Monday

Steel barriers, concrete blocks and a ban on vehicles will be in place at Notting Hill Carnival to protect revellers from the threat of terrorism.

Scotland Yard said there was no specific intelligence but security plans had been "thoroughly reviewed" after the Barcelona attack.

Officers will be stationed around the carnival zone, carrying out checks for weapons and acid.

There will also be officers around Grenfell Tower and the Lancaster West.

The carnival is one of Europe's largest street parties with hundreds of thousands attending each year

A three-week crackdown on crime ahead of the carnival saw 656 people arrested by 07:00 BST on 18 August and a large number of knives, guns, weapons and money seized, the Metropolitan Police said.

Last year more than 450 people were arrested over the two days of festivities, with around 300 detained in the preceding crackdown.

Is the fun being sucked out of the carnival?

The force hit back after being widely ridiculed for linking this year's operation to the carnival.

Grime artist Stormzy was among those to question the link: "How many drugs did you lot seize in the run up to Glastonbury or [are] we only doing tweets like this for black events?," he wrote in a widely shared post on Twitter.

David Musker, the commander in charge of policing the west London event, said: "I think the public would expect us to do what we can to prevent those injuries to people coming to carnival."

He added that the point had been "to get people who would normally come to carnival to cause problems off the street before the event.

"My job is to keep people safe who go to carnival, and I am unapologetic about doing that."

A three-week crackdown on crime ahead of the carnival saw 656 people arrested