NYC’s West Indian parade celebrates Caribbean culture with music, merriment and mayoral candidates

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s West Indian American Day Parade, one of the world’s largest celebrations of Caribbean culture, kicked off Monday with vibrant costumes, colorful flags and the sounds of soca and reggae music.

Along with crowds of hundreds of thousands of people, the parade has long been a magnet for local politicians, many of whom have West Indian heritage or represent members of the city’s large Caribbean community. With a mayoral election looming in November, the political overlap was particularly evident this year as rival candidates jockeyed for attention and support.

Mayor Eric Adams, who is running for reelection as an independent this fall; and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul cut a ceremonial ribbon at the start of the parade as the civil rights leader the Rev. Al Sharpton looked on.

Several of Adams’ reelection challengers were also there, including State Assemblyman and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, who swiveled his hips in a traditional Caribbean dance. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent, flashed a thumbs up as he made his way along the route. Republican mayoral hopeful Curtis Sliwa waved to the crowd while wearing his trademark red Guardian Angels beret.

The parade also saw increased security after a fatal shooting at last year’s event.

The police department sent thousands of officers, plus helicopters and drones and set up barricades to create a “moat” between marchers and the many spectators lining the nearly 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) Brooklyn parade route, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

It is the department’s largest deployment of the year, Tisch said, with more officers assigned to safeguard the event than were deployed to New Year’s Eve in Times Square or the July Fourth fireworks on the East River.

“We are not going to allow one or two individuals to spoil the festivities,” Adams said at a Friday press briefing, noting that there were no specific or credible threats against the parade.

The annual Labor Day event fills Eastern Parkway from Crown Heights to the Brooklyn Museum. It's the culmination of days of carnival events in the city, which include steel pan band performances and J’Ouvert, a separate street party earlier in the day that commemorates freedom from slavery.

Last year, one person was killed and four others were wounded in the shooting along the parade route. Tisch said Friday that police are still looking for the shooter.

Costumed dancers perform during the West Indian Day Parade on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

Costumed dancers perform during the West Indian Day Parade on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

People flee the scene of a double shooting during the West Indian Day Parade on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

EDS NOTE: NUDITY - A reveler helps a dancer carrying a heavy costume as it begins to lean during the West Indian Day Parade on Monday, Sept. 1, 2025, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)

FILE - A reveler marches in the West Indian Day Parade on Sept. 2, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE - Revelers march at the intersection of Franklin Avenue and Eastern Parkway in the West Indian Day Parade on Sept. 2, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

FILE - A reveler poses for a picture during the West Indian Day Parade on Sept. 2, 2024, in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Vote counting was underway Friday in Uganda’s tense presidential election, which was held a day earlier amid an internet shutdown, voting delays and complaints by an opposition leader who said some of his polling agents had been detained by the authorities.

Opposition leader Bobi Wine said Thursday he was unable to leave his house and that his polling agents in rural areas were abducted before voting started, undermining his efforts to prevent electoral offenses such as ballot stuffing.

Wine is hoping to end President Yoweri Museveni's four-decade rule in an election during which the military was deployed and heavy security was posted outside his house near Kampala, the Ugandan capital, after the vote.

The musician-turned-politician wrote on X on Thursday that a senior party official in charge of the western region had been arrested, adding there was “massive ballot stuffing everywhere.”

Rural Uganda, especially the western part of the country, is a ruling-party stronghold, and the opposition would be disadvantaged by not having polling agents present during vote counting.

To try to improve his chances of winning, Wine had urged his supporters to “protect the vote” by having witnesses document alleged offenses at polling stations, in addition to deploying official polling agents.

Wine faced similar setbacks when he first ran for president five years ago. Museveni took 58% of the vote, while Wine got 35%, according to official results. Wine said at the time that the election had been rigged in favor of Museveni, who has spoken disparagingly of his rival.

Museveni, after voting on Thursday, said the opposition had infiltrated the 2021 election and defended the use of biometric machines as a way of securing the vote in this election.

Museveni has served the third-longest tenure of any African leader and is seeking to extend his rule into a fifth decade. The aging president’s authority has become increasingly dependent on the military, which is led by his son, Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

Uganda has not witnessed a peaceful transfer of presidential power since independence from British colonial rule six decades ago.

Voters line up to cast their ballots at a polling station, during the presidential election, in the capital, Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

Election officials count ballots after the polls closed for the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

An election official holds up unmarked ballots during the vote count after polls closed for the presidential election, at a polling center in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A political representative speaks as he works to observe and verify the counting of ballots after polls closed in the presidential election at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)

A supporter of leading opposition candidate Bobi Wine cheers while watching election officials count ballots, after polls closed at a polling station in Kampala, Uganda, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Brian Inganga)