Man arrested after woman ‘body slammed’ in worrying trend spreading across London

A man has been arrested after a woman was ‘body slammed’ to the ground in an incel trend spreading across London.

Ayla Mellek, 20, said she was left with whiplash and bruising after she was pushed to the ground by a runner last Sunday.

She was walking along Mile End canal when she tried to move out of the way of the man, who was running and grunting towards at her at full speed, but he instead allegedly went straight through her.

Police have since confirmed a 38-year-old man from Whitechapel has been arrested on suspicion of common assault in relation to the attack, as well as a second incident.

The 20-year-old told Metro: ‘After he collided with me, I heard a grunt of satisfaction come from him.

‘Bear in mind, he is huge and around 6ft 4in tall. As he came towards me, I turned my body to make a gap for him to run through, but instead he ran at me at full speed and completely bodied me.

‘It felt like he was trying to knock me into the canal, but the way my body was turned it meant I hit the ground instead.’

Ayla was knocked face first to the ground so hard it knocked the air out of her lungs and left with her cuts down her hands and arms and whiplash across her upper body.

Hoping it was an accident, Ayla decided not to report it to the police, until a couple approached her afterwards and said the attacker had knocked an elderly man into the canal just hours before hitting her.

‘They saw I was crying and heard what had happened and came and told me he had actually just pushed someone into the water,’ Ayla said.

‘That’s when I knew it wasn’t an accident.’

The attack on Ayla comes as Japanese trend Butsukari otoko, which translates to ‘bumping man’, spread across the UK.

It started with men ramming into woman in busy train stations, but has since spread outside of stations into streets and, now, into other countries.

The attacker ‘gets off’ on feeling superior to the victim, who is often left shaken and injured after the incident.

After Ayla put up a post on TikTok, her comment section was flooded with women describing similar experiences.

Elly Bailey wrote: ‘This happened to me outside of Old Street station a few months ago! I was waiting to cross the road and a man running body slammed me so hard I got knocked over backwards onto the concrete.

‘As well as cutting my elbow, hitting my head, bruising my hands and wrists, my camera that was in my bag broke from the impact and I had to pay to get it fixed.’

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