Notting Hill Carnival ‘acid attack’ sparks panic as revellers filmed fleeing in fear of second incident

Three people reported skin irritation after the liquid was thrown over people gathered at St Charles Square, which is near to Ladbroke Grove on Sunday evening at 7.55pm

A crowd of revellers at Notting Hill Carnival had “mild acidic liquid” thrown over them on the first day of the festival.

Police said they were investigating after the liquid was thrown near Ladbroke Grove on Sunday evening and three people reported having skin irritation.

Unsubstantiated rumours of another attack sparked mass panic on Monday as footage emerged of crowds fleeing.

Police said they were looking into what caused the panic.

Screams and people shouting can be heard in the footage that was posted on Snapchat on Monday by user Rastamouse88, who captioned the video: “Apperently there’s an acid attack. (sic)”

One reveller wrote on Twitter: “Yep carnival is cancelled for me I’ve just received information from someone I know that there was an acid attack.”

The Met confirmed the liquid was thrown over people gathered at St Charles Square at 7.55pm on Sunday.

A spokesman said: “Some of the crowd in the area then quickly dispersed, which caused injuries, who have since received treatment from the London Ambulance Service at the scene.

“Three people have also reported skin irritation injuries, although these are not thought to be serious.”

So far there have been no arrests but the Met said they were investigating.

Acid attack at Ladbroke grove? Do i really wanna go carni tmrw?😭

— SEPT 16th (@savagepetty_) August 27, 2017

A source told the Daily Star that gangsters at the carnival use “drink bottles filled with acid” to avoid being caught by police.

They allegedly told the newspaper that these attacks are most likely to happen on the final day of the carnival.

Before the bank holiday carnival took place, Dave Musker, who is in charge of policing the event, said: “People should be under no illusion that if they think they can swan in with a bottle of Lucozade with acid in and not be able to be detected by police.

“We have the methods, the people, the highly-trained professionals, and we will look at them, and I will press for them to be arrested and charged and brought before the courts.”

As of 3.30pm on Monday, some 149 arrests had been made at the carnival- over a third of which, 61, were for drug offences, the Met said.

There were 17 public order arrests, and 15 arrests for possession of an offensive weapon, or knife/blade.

Partiers dancing in the streets paused to observe a minute’s silence in memory of those who died in the Grenfell Tower fire.

At 3pm on Monday sound systems stopped blaring and the carnival procession paused for 60 seconds to remember the at least 80 victims of the devastating tower block fire.

Around half a mile away from the charred high-rise, firefighters lined up, removed their helmets and bowed their heads outside North Kensington fire station.

The moment was concluded with a spontaneous round of applause and cheers from the hundreds of thousands of carnivalists celebrating the bank holiday weekend.

The firefighters were then embraced, congratulated and thanked by carnival goers, posing for photos with them.

Sunday’s incident follows a recent spike in the number of attacks involving corrosive substances.

More than 400 were carried out in the six months up to April 2017, according to figures from 39 forces in England and Wales.

The Metropolitan Police has said its response cars will now carry equipment that will help officers to better deal with calls to such attacks.