Family of mother killed at Notting Hill Carnival say it’s an ‘unmanageable event’ and is ‘unsafe’

Published

13 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Over a million people are descending on west London this week for an event like no other.

Colourful, celebratory and culturally significant, but it has become increasingly contentious.

For the family of Cher Maximen it’s an event they can no longer be excited about.

In their eyes, carnival has been tainted by the memories of last year when 32-year-old Cher was killed in front of her young daughter in an unexpected, unprovoked attack in the middle of carnival’s ‘family day’.

Cher’s family say she would not want the event to stop, but that its “current format” is unsafe.

“Where some people say, wrong place, wrong time. She was in the right place, at the right time, where she should have been, and still she wasn’t safe,” says Lawrence Hoo, Cher’s cousin.

Mr Hoo says the event is not set up to protect carnival-goers: “She was in the safest location possible on family day with her daughter and she was murdered directly in front of police officers, so if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere, in all honesty, it’s an unmanageable event.”

Last year, the number of carnival-related crimes were down on the year before, and the majority were related to drug offences.

Cher was one of two people murdered at last year’s event.

Mr Hoo says the threat of violence hasn’t gone away: “Really, one murder is a murder too many. I believe that has become too dangerous.

“Could it happen again? Of course it could happen again. Of course, it could happen again. You could turn up the day before, you could be there, you can step out of the front door, you’re in the site. I think it’s an unmanageable location.”

Cher’s grandmother, Vyleen Maximen, wants the international three-day event to be moved.

“When I had the meeting with them, I said ‘why can’t you move it to a different place? ie Hyde Park – that’s a big enough park’. I was told ‘well, it wouldn’t be called Notting Hill Carnival’.”

For the family it comes down to concerns around who attends the street parade. The perceived lack of screening for individuals with weapons worries them.

“This is why I would like it moved,” Ms Maximen said.

“I mean, it’s not up to me. This is just my personal opinion. Have it structured, this is the way in, then the way out, but on the streets you can do whatever and just escape through the streets.”

This weekend, carnival organisers say 7,000 officers and staff will be on site each day with live facial recognition cameras and screening arches used at the busiest entry points.

The option of moving the event however is not up for discussion, says Matthew Phillip, Notting Hill Carnival’s chief executive.

“Carnival should remain on the streets of Notting Hill. It’s where it started, it’s a community event. Unfortunately, it has been marred by incidents.

“Our hearts are very much with the family, but carnival should remain on in the streets of Notting Hill. What we need to do is actually tackle the root causes of the issues of violence that we have in the capital that happen 365 days of the year.”

In the run-up to the event, the Metropolitan Police have arrested more than 100 people who had planned to attend and seized dozens of knives and firearms.

Commander Charmain Brenyah from the force explains that while the event “creates unique challenges” due to its size and scale, the security operation has been months in the planning.

“All of that work doesn’t just start at carnival. It started in the weeks and months previous to that, where we’ve been taking people off the streets to make sure they don’t come to carnival to cause harm.

“We’ve made 100 arrests of people for various offences. We’ve recalled 21 people to prison. We’ve taken 11 firearms off the street and 40 knives. This is all about making sure that people come to the event and have a safe and secure carnival.”

Mr Phillip, the carnival’s chief executive, is adamant, the event is safe.

“We’ve put a lot of measures in place, as we always do, but even more so this year, to keep people safe,” says Mr Phillip.

“Carnival is a safe space, it’s no more unsafe than the rest of London. So I would say come and, you know, be respectful. We want everybody to come and be respectful and care for each other. But carnival it’s a safe space.”

Cher’s family say she would not want the event stopped, the young mother adored music and dancing, especially at carnival.

But moving it, her cousin Mr Hoo says, could keep everyone safe.

“They can’t put enough precautions in place to make it safe. That’s the reality. It’s absolutely unmanageable in its current format.”

UK

Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Published

5 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Protesters have gathered across the country as groups demonstrated against asylum seeker housing and were met by anti-racism campaigners.

Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were held in England, Scotland and Wales, including in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Aberdeen, Mold, Perth, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley and Canary Wharf.

Counter-protests were also organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism.

In Bristol, mounted police separated the two groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.

Police kept around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in English flags away from roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Horley, Surrey.

One man, wearing a West Ham United football shirt, was held by police as he yelled: “You’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here” at anti-racism protesters.

Anti-immigration protesters also chanted: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson” in support of the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.

The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with “No they’re f****** not” from the other side of the street.

In Perth, protesters gathered outside the Radisson Hotel.

The anti-migration protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Perth is full – empty the hotels” and “get them out”.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland said it had achieved “victory” in Perth, with more than 200 gathering to oppose the Abolish Asylum System demonstration.

In Liverpool, a dispersal order was issued to try and contain the protests.

Saturday’s events come amid continued tension around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers.

Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.

In the wake of those protests, Epping Forest District Council sought and won an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated there – a decision which the government is seeking permission to appeal.

UK

Reform UK’s new immigration plans would’ve been extreme just a few years ago

Published

6 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Reform UK's new immigration plans would've been extreme just a few years ago

Mass deportations. Prison camps. Quitting the Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on Torture.

A shrug of the shoulders at the idea of the UK sending asylum seekers back to places like Afghanistan or Eritrea, where they could be tortured or executed.

“I’m really sorry, but we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world,” says Nigel Farage.

“Who is our priority?”

The Reform UK leader has been setting out his party’s new plans to address illegal migration in an interview with The Times newspaper – a set of policies, and a use of language, which would surely have been seen as extreme just a few years ago.

Only last autumn the Reform leader repeatedly shied away from the concept of “mass deportations”, describing the idea as “a political impossibility”.

But now he’s embraced Trump-style immigration rhetoric.

It’s not surprising that Reform want to capitalise on the outpouring of public anger over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. The policy was started by the previous Conservative government, in response to housing shortages – and Labour has failed to make significant progress on its promise to stop it.

But all the major parties have shifted firmly to the right on this issue.

There’s been very little political criticism of the aggressiveness of Farage’s policy suggestions, and the premise that the UK should no longer offer sanctuary to anyone who arrives here illegally.

The Tory response has been to complain that he’s just copying the ideas they didn’t quite get round to implementing before calling the general election.

“Four months late, this big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced,” said Chris Philp MP, the shadow home secretary.

“Labour’s border crisis does urgently need to be fixed with tough and radical measures, but only the Conservatives have done – and will continue to do – the detailed work to deliver a credible plan that will actually work in practice.”

Certainly, the ambition to arrest and deport everyone who arrives in a small boat – regardless of whether or not they have legitimate grounds for asylum – has clear echoes of the Tories’ Rwanda policy.

Despite spending £700m on the controversial idea, only four volunteers were ever sent to Kigali before it was cancelled by Sir Keir Starmer, who branded it a gimmick.

Labour have suggested they’ve diverted Home Office resources that were freed up by that decision into processing asylum claims more quickly and increasing deportations.

They’re hoping tougher action against the criminal gangs and the new “one in one out” deal with France will help deter the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats in the first place, currently at record levels.

But rather than offering any defence of the principle of offering asylum to genuine refugees – Labour’s Angela Eagle MP, the border security minister, has also focused on the feasibility of Farage’s policies.

“Nigel Farage is simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline,” she said.

“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”

Even the Liberal Democrats have taken a similar approach.

“This plan sums up Nigel Farage perfectly, as like him it doesn’t offer any real solutions,” they said.

“Whilst Farage continues to stoke division, we Liberal Democrats are more interested in delivering for our local communities.”

It’s been left to the Refugee Council to defend the principle of asylum.

“After the horrors of the Second World War, Britain and its allies committed to protecting those fleeing persecution,” said CEO Enver Solomon.

“The Refugee Convention was our collective vow of ‘never again’ – a legal framework ensuring that people who come to our country seeking safety get a fair chance to apply for asylum.

“That commitment remains vital today. Whether escaping conflict in Sudan or repression under regimes like the Taliban, people still need protection.

“Most find refuge in neighbouring countries. But some will seek sanctuary in Europe, including Britain.

“We can meet this challenge by upholding a fair, managed system that determines who qualifies for protection and who does not.”

But with Reform leading in the polls, and protests outside hotels across the country – politicians of all stripes are under pressure to respond to public frustration over the issue.

A recent YouGov poll found half of voters now believe immigration over the last ten years has been mostly bad for the country – double the figure just three years ago.

While the government has made some progress in reducing the cost of asylum hotels – down from £8.3m a day in 2023/4 to £5.77m a day in 2024/5 – the overall numbers accommodated in this way have gone up by 8% since Labour took charge, thanks to the surge in new claims.

Sir Keir has previously said he won’t make a promise he can’t keep.

But current efforts to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 are clearly not working.

That’s a credibility gap Farage is more than ready to exploit.

UK

Three people in a life-threatening condition after ‘arson attack’ at restaurant

Published

9 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Three people in a life-threatening condition after 'arson attack' at restaurant

Three people are in a life-threatening condition after a suspected arson attack at a restaurant in Ilford, say police.

Five people – three women and two men – were injured in the fire, which broke out shortly after 9pm on Friday at Indian Aroma on Woodford Avenue, Gants Hill.

No arrests have been made.

Hospital porter Edward Thawe, 43, went to help with his son after hearing screams from his nearby home.

He described the scene as “horrible” and “more than scary and the sort of thing that you don’t want to look at twice”.

He said: “I heard screaming and people saying they had called the police.”

He said he saw a woman and a severely burned man who may have been customers.

He said the man’s “whole body was burnt”, including his shirt, but he was still wearing his trousers.

After being treated at the scene by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, the victims were taken to hospital.

Nine others were able to get out beforehand, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said in a statement.

“The brigade’s control officers received seven calls about the fire and mobilised crews from Ilford, Hainault, Leytonstone and Woodford fire stations to the scene. The fire was extinguished by 10.32pm,” said an LFB spokesperson.

“We understand this incident will cause concern within the community. My team of specialist detectives are working at speed to piece the incident together,” said Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, of the Met’s Central Specialist Crime North unit.

“Locals can expect to see a large police presence in the area. If you have any concerns, please speak to those officers on the ground.”

The London Ambulance Service told Sky News: “We sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and paramedics from our hazardous area response team.

“We treated five people for burns and smoke inhalation. We took two patients to a major trauma centre and three others to local hospitals.”

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who is the MP for Ilford North, posted on X to thank the emergency services for their response to the fire.

He also asked his constituents to “please avoid the area for now”.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Met via 101, quoting 7559/22AUG. If you wish to remain anonymous, please speak with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.