A man has been taken to hospital after being bitten by a suspected American XL bully dog in a south London park.

The victim, in 40s, was attacked in Pasley Park, Walworth, shortly after 6pm on Friday and was taken to hospital suffering injuries to his arm, the Metropolitan Police said.

“The owner of the dog left the scene with the dog before officers arrived,” a Met spokesperson added.

“The dog is believed to have been a grey-coloured XL bully.”

Police are investigating and no arrests have been made.

Writer and lawyer Ness Lyons said the attack happened in her local park.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, she said: “Earlier this evening an XL bully jumped a fence and attacked a man in my local park. Partially witnessed by my son.

“Man was bitten badly in several places including his abdomen.

“Police and ambulance came, but it took an hour. Horrifying.

“The owner grabbed his dog and legged it.”

Elsewhere, demonstrators rallied in central London on Saturday in opposition to the Prime Minister’s proposed American bully XL ban.

They clutched placards with messages such as “don’t bully our bullies” and chanted “save our bullies”, while on person was pictured wearing a T-shirt which said “muzzle Rishi Sunak don’t bully our breed”.

Mr Sunak has promised to ban the breed under the Dangerous Dogs Act by the end of the year in response to a series of attacks, but owners of are not expected to face a cull of their pets.

On Monday, the Prime Minister’s official spokesman said a “transition period” would be introduced, with details likely to follow a consultation on the plan.

Owners could face a requirement to neuter their dogs and muzzle them in public, the Government’s chief vet has suggested.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman on Monday said: “We will need to safely manage the existing population of these dogs. Exactly what that looks like will be a topic for the consultation.

“And there will need to be some sort of transition period.”