A Bristol University postgraduate student who made a complaint of bullying against a transgender student has faced a barrage of abuse and even “masked protesters” when she attended disciplinary hearings.

Raquel Rosario-Sanchez, 29, a PhD student from the Dominican Republic, complained to the university about being bullied by a trans student 18 months ago.

The harassment started two months after she arrived to begin her PhD at the university’s Centre for Gender and Violence Research, when she agreed to chair a meeting for the Woman’s Place UK group, she said.

It escalated after formal disciplinary proceedings were launched by the university against the transgender student following Rosario-Sanchez’s complaint. Activists organised a series of protests, urging followers to give the PhD student “hell”.

Rosario-Sanchez said she