Women are being ‘body slammed’ in terrifying trend spreading across London

Posted by. Posted onMay 7, 2025 Comments0
Women living in London are reporting being slammed into the ground when walking in crowds (Picture: Getty/@aylamellek)

A 20-year-old woman was left with whiplash after she was body slammed to the ground by a ‘huge’ man as part of a worrying incel trend known in Japan as ‘Butsukari otoko’ that is infiltrating London.

Ayla Mellek was walking along Mile End canal with a friend when she was knocked to the ground by a runner with so much force it ‘knocked the air out of her lungs’ on Sunday.

The marketer had tried to move out of the way of the man, who was running and grunting towards at her at full speed, but he instead went straight through her.

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.

Women being slammed into in terrifying incel trend trend spreading across London
Ayla showing her injuries. She was left with cuts and bruises and whiplash around her neck
(Picture: Aisling Legros)

‘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 revealed 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.’

This Is Not Right

On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.

You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.

Read more:

What is butsukari otoko?

Women being slammed into in terrifying incel trend trend spreading across London
Ayla was walking along Mile End canal with a friend when she was knocked to the ground (Picture: Aisling Legros)

Butsukari otoko is a trend originating in Japan, and translates to ‘bumping man’.

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.

Attacker Daisuke Nagata confirmed this, replying ‘because it felt good’ when asked why he was slamming into women in Tokyo.

Have you been a victim of butsukari otoko?

Email brooke.davies@metro.co.uk or webnews@metro.co.uk

Nagata, who was working as a temporary employee at Keikyu-Kamata Station where the attacks happened, denied attacking six women but conceded he had done it dozens of time before without being caught.

He reportedly told police: ‘When I got off a train once, my arm happened to hit a woman’s chest and it felt good.

‘So I thought about how to do the same without being accused.

‘I’ve done this dozens of times.’

Is butsukari otoko spreading to London?

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.

@sandyinjapannn

Replying to @jakafe it’s been a month… here’s to hoping the sh4d0wb4n is lifted now… otherwise I guess I’ll just go cry in a corner 😂 #misogyny

♬ original sound – Sandy in Japannn 🇹🇼🇦🇺🇯🇵 – Sandy in Japannn 🇹🇼🇦🇺🇯🇵

This Is Not Right

On November 25, 2024 Metro launched This Is Not Right, a year-long campaign to address the relentless epidemic of violence against women.

With the help of our partners at Women’s Aid, This Is Not Right aims to shine a light on the sheer scale of this national emergency.

You can find more articles here, and if you want to share your story with us, you can send us an email at vaw@metro.co.uk.

Read more:

‘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.’

Moanna added: ‘Happened to me on the Underground. A guy was running towards me, I turned my body to let him pass and he bumps right into me. Full force. Damaged my shoulder. No apology.’

Back to Ayla’s story, and it’s clear just how difficult it is to catch and charge the culprits of this sort of crime, often carried out on the run. Ayla reported the crime the day after and police are investigating but as yet, have made no arrests.

The Metropolitan Police said: ‘Police are investigating an assault that took place on Sunday, 4 May at 12:30hrs.

‘It is alleged a man pushed a 20-year-old woman as she walked along the canal in Mile End, Bethnal Green.

‘She attended a police station the following day to report the incident.

‘No arrests have been made. An investigation into the circumstances is ongoing.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

For more stories like this, check our news page.

Category

Leave a Comment