Thousands celebrate at the Leeds West Indian Carnival

Thousands of people have been celebrating the Leeds West Indian Carnival.

The event is the largest of its kind in the UK outside London, with the famous parade starting with road closures in place until throughout the day.

The carnival's founder, Dr Arthur France MBE (pic), said the event brought people from all walks of life together to celebrate. He said: "The carnival does what the government cannot do.

"It brings people of all races, colour, class and creed together in harmony." This year's parade route has been changed to minimise traffic disruption, with troupes doing two laps before returning to the park for a final performance.

Leeds West Indian Carnival trustee, Kearn Williams, said: "We are here to make music, we are here to be merry, we are here to celebrate.

"It's so important that a community like this - of ethnic minorities in particular - can have a space to celebrate themselves." Mr Williams said the carnival tradition could be traced back to 1834, when slavery in most British colonies, including South Africa and the Caribbean, was abolished.

He said while coming together to celebrate, carnivals were also viewed as a form of protest against racism and a way to "reclaim space," as he put it. "Carnival's history, even beyond the UK, has always had this space of revelry and rebellion," Mr Williams said.

"It was always used as a space to enjoy their freedoms but also to rebel against the systems that had been." This year's carnival troupes did two laps of the new route - the first lap to allow judges to evaluate the costumes and the second lap for the troupes to enjoy the celebrations.

Mr Williams said it was hoped next year's route would be "bigger and better". Tashi Brown, who worked on costumes for the event, said community engagement was a priority.

"It is now becoming more about unity, bringing the community together and celebrating everyone's differences," she added. Leeds City Council has asked people to help "keep Carnival alive", as it asked for donations to ensure the event continued into the future.