The annual Notting Hill Carnival has been marred by clashes involving around 40 youths as the event drew to a close.

Television footage showed a policeman's face bleeding from bricks and bottles hurled at officers.

Chief Inspector Jo Edwards said: "It was about two hours of attacks on police officers involving bottles being thrown, bricks and other debris that was on the floor. So you know, quite a scary environment for the police officers to be in."

She said "proactive policing" using stop and search tactics had help ensure most of the weekend's 850,000 visitors enjoyed the event peacefully.

Police said a total of 330 people were arrested over the weekend and that knives, a Taser gun, CS spray and a baseball bat were among the weapons seized.

Earlier in the day and in a separate incident, police detained another 151 people in south London in an attempt to prevent possible violence at the event.

Acting on a tip-off, over 1,620 officers gathered on Monday afternoon at the Oval cricket stadium, arresting a large group of youths allegedly travelling through the area to the West London carnival.

As well as those detained, another five were arrested for public order offences and possession of "points and blades".

Carnival organisers said the trouble which flared after the event was "extremely disappointing".

However, Michael Williams, from London Notting Hill Carnival Ltd, said it should not overshadow the street party.

He said: "More than 1 million people had a great time at the Notting Hill Carnival and enjoyed an amazing spectacle of colour, energy and music.

"The Bank Holiday weekend was the culmination of a series of successful carnival events during the month of August.

"While this incident - which happened after the festivities were over and people were on their way home - is extremely disappointing, it is important that it should not overshadow what is Europe's greatest street party.

"We will be working with the police to look at exactly what happened and to prevent incidents like this happening in the future."

Inspired by the Trinidad Carnival, the Notting Hill carnival was first held in London in 1964 and has grown into one of the world's biggest, generating around £100 million for London's economy.

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