Content note: this article contains discussion of homophobia and violence.

In the early hours of Wednesday morning (23/2), four Wolfson College students were attacked on Market Square in a suspected homophobic hate crime – resulting in one student being hospitalised.

They were assaulted after attending Glitterbomb, Cambridge’s only weekly student LGBTQ+ club night.

A group of five men and a woman verbally abused the students with homophobic language before physically assaulting them, in what one student said was a “targeted” attack.

It began with the perpetrators making derogatory comments about the outfits of two of the students, a non-binary person and a gay man.

One attacker then made transphobic comments about the non-binary student’s appearance and physically assaulted them. The attack escalated as the other perpetrators joined in.

All four students suffered injuries. One twenty-four year old woman had to go to hospital for a fractured nose, partially deviated septum, bruised eyes, and a concussion. She was repeatedly hit in the face and then kicked after she had already collapsed.

When informed of the attack, Wolfson College urged students to “be alert”, emphasising the assault was carried out “without provocation”.

Cambridgeshire Police confirmed that they “are investigating assaults which are alleged to have taken place [...] in Market Street and Market Passage” in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Ella Hawes contributed reporting to this piece.

This article was updated on 26/2 at 21:45 to include comment from Cambridgeshire Police.