(Nov. 4) - When Franny Armstrong found herself surrounded by a group of teenage girls, one of them armed with an iron bar, she knew she needed help. And she got it, from a very unexpected source.
The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, appeared suddenly on his bicycle and charged the group of attackers, chasing them off, British media reported Wednesday.
Armstrong, a filmmaker and climate activist, said the gang of girls went after her Monday night on a street in Camden, north London.
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Daniel Berehulak, Getty Images
London Mayor Boris Johnson, shown in a file photo, cycled to the rescue of a woman who was being attacked in London.
"I was texting on my phone so didn't notice the girls until they pushed me against the car, quite hard," Armstrong told the BBC. "I noticed that one had an iron bar in her hand -- it was very frightening."
Desperate, Armstrong called out for help. A cyclist rode up and charged at the attackers, chasing them off.
"He was my knight on a shining bicycle," Armstrong said, according to The Times of London.
And when she realized her rescuer's identity, she was bowled over.
"He stopped and I was like, 'It's Boris!'" Armstrong told the BBC.
Armstrong said the mayor rode after the teens, shouting that they were "oiks" as they scurried away. "Oik" is a pejorative slang term for an uncultured person.
Then the mayor returned to Armstrong and insisted on walking her home, she said.
Armstrong told The Times she had voted for Johnson's defeated rival, former Mayor Ken Livingstone, in the last election. But, she added: "If you find yourself down a dark alleyway and in trouble, I think Boris would be of more use than Ken."
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