At 10.30 p.m. on March 16, Chisomo Tolani — a national of Africa’s Malawi currently pursuing his PhD in computer science at Gujarat University — was studying in his room in the university’s hostel Block A when he received a frantic call from his friend asking him to come out. As soon as he put down the phone, he heard screams and other loud noises coming from outside. Worried, he and several others from adjoining rooms rushed out to see what on earth could be happening on the usually peaceful campus, located in Ahmedabad’s Navarangpura neighbourhood.
“We saw some people brandishing sticks and beating our friends. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, but they were shouting and creating a commotion. Within no time, they entered several of our rooms and began vandalising our belongings. It was extremely frightening. We were all petrified and didn’t know what was going on,” he says while describing the violent attack carried out by a mob of 20 to 25 people at the hostel block that houses the foreign students studying at the university.
