Police will be keeping a careful watch on visitors to this weekend's Toronto Caribbean Carnival with security cameras, a move that comes with some controversy.

The Toronto Police Service is temporarily setting up a number of closed-circuit video cameras in the Yonge Street area for the street festival, formerly called Caribana.

Toronto's Caribbean street festival draws huge crowds every year.
(Canadian Press)

While organizers of this year's festival expressed support for the police surveillance program, past organizers criticized the timing of the project.

Some civil libertarians have also denounced the video surveillance as further infringement on people's privacy rights.

"My immediate thought was racial profiling and to me it just adds to the stigma," said Nkem Anizor, president of Black Youth Taking Action.

Anizor, who helped organize past festivals, understands the use of the cameras, but says the police could have tested them earlier.

"If you really wanted to try it out, you're first great opportunity was Pride Week … and you didn't do that," she said. "That let's me know that you're anticipating problems because its Caribana."

The number of cameras and locations were not disclosed, but police plan to post signs in the area advising people that they are under video surveillance.

Police hope the video surveillance will deter crime and provide evidence should anything happen, said acting police chief Tony Warr.

Toronto police argued the force chose the Caribbean Carnival for the security camera trial because it is a large public, downtown event, not because of any particular incident.

The initiative is part of $2-million pilot project funded by the province. Toronto police received the funding in January.

At the end of the festival, they plan to evaluate the usefulness of temporarily installing video cameras for large-scale downtown events, and perhaps even permanently installing the cameras downtown.