Crime suspects barred from London carnival

Police have imposed bail conditions on 11 people suspected of planning to cause trouble at next weekend's Notting Hill Carnival.

Senior officers sanctioned the measures to prevent known criminals from attending the event, which is Europe's largest street festival. The suspects are linked to a range of offences including breaches of public order, robbery, burglary and drugs crime.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Trotter of the Metropolitan Police said: "These are people who have had some contact with carnival in the past. We have reason to believe they may be coming to carnival to cause trouble." They would be monitored and stopped as they tried to travel to the event, he said.

The Metropolitan Police, along with the event's organisers – the Notting Hill Carnival Trust, Kensington and Chelsea Council and the Greater London Authority – would make public safety a priority, Mr Trotter said.

There will be 10,000 officers on duty for the carnival, which takes place on Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday in west London. Organisers expect up to 1.5 million to attend.

There will also be 950 to 1,000 stewards on duty as the procession, for the first time, follows a horseshoe route rather than the old circular route, which caused congestion on narrow roads.

Mr Trotter warned that visitors would risk arrest if they openly smoked cannabis, despite the intention of the Home Secretary, David Blunkett, to lower the classification of the drug. "Nothing has changed legally since last year," he said.