Carnival revelry begins

 Carnival bands are at this time crossing the big stage at the Queen's Park Savannah as the 2011 Carnival Parade of the Bands, hyped to be the best carnival celebrations in many years, began just about an hour ago.

Among the first of the big bands to cross the stage so far was Bliss, part of the big band Tribe, portraying The Warrior Within. Tribe has traditionally been one of the biggest bands for carnival, on one occasion attracting as many at 15,000 masqueraders. The band opted to split into two separate bands for this year's carnival celebrations. The main band will portray The Way of the Warior.

Among the other big bands expected to grace the savannah stage later today are Island People's Shades of the Universe, Legacy's South Pacific, Hart's Planet Rock and Brian Mac Farlane's Humanity of Life.

Bands are required to cross three judging points in Port-of-Spain to be eligible for the Band of the Year title. Within the return of the savannah stage for the first time in two years, most bands are aiming to cross the stage by mid-afternoon. Bands have been given Global Positioning System (GPS) units to ensure that their locations are known at all times in a bid to prevent congestion by several bands rushing to the stage at the same time.

There have been reports of minor skirmishes around the capital city but there are as yet no major reports of criminal incidents.