Carnival marks freedom congress

The carnival ends with a festival in Alexandra Park

An event which signalled the beginning of the end of colonialism is being celebrated by Manchester's International Caribbean Carnival.

The carnival on Saturday marks the 60th anniversary of the Fifth Pan African Congress (PAC) held in Manchester.

Carnival Director Anthony Brown said the congress was a seminal moment in the moves for independence in Africa and the Caribbean.

The carnival starts at 1330 BST near the site of the congress meeting.

City parade

The fifth PAC was held in October 1945 at Chorlton-on-Medlock Town Hall in All Saints Square, which now houses the art department of Manchester Metropolitan University.

Mr Brown said: "At that congress you had people from Africa and the Caribbean coming together for the first time.

"They had fought fascism and Nazism, and they were asking why should they go back home to colonialism."

He said the parade, which takes in the city centre before ending in Alexandra Park, Moss Side, will also acknowledge the monuments to Abraham Lincoln and William Wilberforce.

Greater Manchester Police said the carnival route was likely to affect a number of roads including: Cavendish Street, Oxford Road, Peter Street, Deansgate, St Ann's Street, Cross Street, Mount Street, Whitworth Street, Albion Street, Medlock Street, Cambridge Street, Lloyd Street North, Upper Lloyd Street, Princess Street and Claremont Road.