Community praised as police reveal low arrest numbers

POLICE HAVE praised residents and visitors for their co-operation with officers during two major events held in Leeds over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Tens of thousands of people turned out on Monday for the 51st Leeds West Indian Carnival and around 65,000 people attended Bramham Park each day for Leeds Festival.

There were three arrests during the carnival, while 48 arrests were made at the festival.

Police said the number of festival arrests was negligible for an event of its size and the majority were drugs-related.

An increased focus on searches by festival security staff saw large quantities of Class A and Class B drugs either seized or surrendered this year.

Assistant Chief Constable Angela Williams, who commanded the operations run by West Yorkshire Police at the weekend, said: “The August Bank Holiday weekend is always our busiest weekend and we aim to make sure that everyone has a good time and stays safe.

“We were pleased to see that our extensive planning and preparation with partner agencies helped these big events to be delivered safely and with the minimum amount of disruption to the wider community.

“We would like to thank all who took part in the events and who helped to make sure that they passed without any significant issues and remain events that Leeds can be rightly proud of.”