Chaos erupted at a London Underground station as a man was chased by Notting Hill Carnival revellers after throwing a drink at someone. The brawl broke out between screaming carnivalgoers at Baker Street Station this weekend, with snapshots of the violent scenes caught on video and shared to social media. It was sparked by a man in a brightly-coloured costume throwing a drink up the Tube station stairs, prompting a woman to chase after him with a handbag in tow.
The woman, dressed in a leopard print dress, was then joined by another man on the drink thrower’s trail, while onlookers laughed and shouted at the unfolding mayhem. The first man was then caught on camera diving into a train carriage and standing on a seat, before being followed by a man in a white tank top who landed a series of blows while passersby filmed through the windows.
The man was then shown being dragged out of the carriage, with the leopard print-wearing woman screaming in the background.
While the motivations of the incident are unclear, it was one of several outbreaks of violence at Notting Hill Carnival on the weekend – with police confirming that more than 400 arrests had been made at Europe’s biggest street festival.
The Met said 200 people were arrested on Sunday and 223 on Monday, a rise from the 349 reported last year.
There were also two stabbings at the event on Bank Holiday Monday, but it was reported that neither resulted in life-threatening injuries.
Police also said there were “far fewer” incidents of serious violence during this year’s carnival.
Last year, the street festival saw eight stabbings and two murders.
“This year have proactively targeted those who have attempted to come to Carnival to cause harm to others,” assistant commissioner Matt Ward said.
“We have used live facial recognition, knife arches and our stop-and-search powers to identify and arrest more than 400 suspects. These arrests have prevented some of the serious violence we have seen at previous Carnivals.”
