More than 100 people arrested during first day of Notting Hill Carnival

The Metropolitan Police has said that 106 people have been arrested during the first day (August 27) of the Notting Hill Carnival - mostly for drug related offences.

There were eight arrests for possession of weapons, 10 common assault arrests and nine public order arrests.

In addition, nine people were arrested for sexual offences, and six for assault of police officers.

In 2016, a similar number (105) of revellers were arrested on day one of the event, which is known for being the family day.

The arrests came after hundreds of Twitter users, including artist Stormzy , hit out at the Met Police for linking drugs and gang raids with the street party.

On August 22, the Met Police tweeted: "In the run up to Notting Hill Carnival officers have this morning seized what is believed to be a kilo of uncut heroin in Catford."

However, people have been questioning how an event that took place in Catford, south east London, could be related to this weekend's carnival in west London.

A Twitter user responded to the Met Police: "Catford is about 12 miles away from Notting Hill, in a different borough and takes about an hour to get to on the tube? So the link is?"

The man in charge of policing the carnival, David Musker, said he was "unapologetic" over his efforts to keep the public safe.

He added: "I don't really care what we arrest them for. I'll be lawfully audacious, as I can, to get them off the streets.

"So whether they've got heroin, or they've got other class A drugs, drug dealing, serious violence takes place at carnival, we will try and target them and get them off the streets."

The arrests at this year's street party follow a three-week crackdown on crime, which saw over 600 individuals detained for a number of different crimes.

Keep up to date with the latest news in west London via the free getwestlondon app.

You can set up your app to see all the latest news and events from your area, plus receive push notifications for breaking news.

Available to download from the App Store or Google Play for Android .