The Leeds West Indian Carnival has enjoyed a largely harmonious relationship with the city, bar a few isolated instances of violence. In 1977, the Yorkshire Evening Post carried the headline ‘Wonderful day, say police’ above an article about the carnival, which was attended by around 10,000 people. On the previous Sunday, the Notting Hill Carnival was marred by violence between the police and West Indian youths. The successful integration of Leeds’ carnival can largely be attributed to good relations between the carnival committee and the local authorities.
Arthur France remembers that even in the early years, the carnival enjoyed the full co-operation of the police. A note in a 1973 edition of the Chapeltown News reads:
"In Trinidad, one year the police were kept away from the Carnival by people throwing marbles under their horses’ hooves. There should be no need for this in Chapeltown as Carnival has been promised full co-operation from the police."
Where violence did occur, it was the exception rather than the rule. The 1990 carnival is referred to as the ‘anus horribilis’ by the carnival committee when three people were killed.
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