Men deliberately body-slamming women as more cases of 'violent' trend emerge in London

23 May 2025, 10:14 | Updated: 23 May 2025, 10:23

Victims have shared stories of violent, deliberate shoulder-barging by strangers, describing the unprovoked attacks as 'abrupt' and 'shocking'.

The Metropolitan Police are looking into further reports of body-slamming attacks across London after four people were assaulted in Mile End earlier this month, according to the Express.

TikTok user Ayla Mellek begged Londoners to be careful as she recounted an incident where a man deliberately "body-slammed" her to the ground on an East London canal path.

She said in a TikTok video: "I just got assaulted today in broad daylight."

Mellek said she was walking on the canal path in Mile End when she saw "this guy running towards me."

She said the man was "massive, like double my height - he's like 6 foot 4."

"He had muscles all in his shoulders, and he was dressed in blue."

She said she initially believed the man was just jogging along the canal.

As he drew closer, she heard him "grunting" and "growling".

"I twisted my body so he could get past me, because it is a bit crowded, and there was a gap for him to get past me."

"Instead of going in this gap, this guy ran at me at full force and body-slammed me to the ground."

Mellek said she was slammed with such force that she "twisted in the air and landed face down on the floor."

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In the video, she showed the camera her hands, which were injured in the attack.

She said the man ran away after the assault.

She said: "I was in so much shock, I just started crying immediately."

Two joggers passing by stopped to help as her friend attempted to call after the attacker.

Mellek said the canal was busy and there were plenty of people around to witness the incident.

Mellek said a couple overheard her phone conversation with her boyfriend as she explained to him what had happened, and told her they had seen the same man push an elderly man into the canal.

She reported the incident to the police after hearing this information.

Mellek noted she was lucky not to have hit her head on concrete, or the metal boat hooks that line the canal.

TikTok users reported similar incidents in the comments of Mellek's video. Ella Bailey said:

"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."

Another user said they were body-slammed on one of the platforms in Bank Station.

Police investigating the string of alleged attacks against three men and a woman on the canal path in East London on May 4 have now charged a man with four counts of common assault. Samuel Flowers, 38 from of Commercial Road, Tower Hamlets, appeared at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Acting Detective Chief Supt Brittany Clarke said: "We are very aware of the concern this has caused in the local community. While we have a man in custody, local officers will continue to patrol around the canal and surrounding areas."

The body-slamming incidents are believed to part of a wider trend knowing as the 'Bumping Man', which originated in Japan.

A wave of incidents involving men carrying out body-slamming attacks on women at train stations in Japan were first reported on social media in May 2018.

A video of a man carrying out repeated ramming attacks targeted at women in the Shinjuku Station precinct spread on Twitter and YouTube.

A 49-year-old man was arrested at Nijubashimae Station in 2019 after 3 women were injured.

In July 2020, a 45-year-old man was arrested after 6 women were harmed at Kamata Station.

Experts in Japan have reported that these assaults are a form of stress relief where the attacker targets people who are weaker than themselves.