Today I went to Khartoum University to attend a zoology lab taught by one of my students. After leaving the lab, I saw a large group of students running away from the front of the campus and smelled a sickly / sweet smell. As I got closer, my eyes and nose started to burn. There was a large group of police in full riot gear standing in the road just outside of the campus. The students were throwing rocks at them and they were shooting tear gas at the students.

They were just going back and forth. First the students would throw rocks. Then the police would shoot tear gas and the students would run. When the gas cleared, the students started throwing rocks again. The canisters landed near me a few times. It felt like having flaming pepper blown in your face.

A couple of students tried to go through the front gate, close to where the police were standing. The police shot at them with live ammunition and hit one of them in the leg. He was carried off by a group of students.

The conflict started because the students were protesting the arrest of fellow students (most likely for political reasons). Khartoum University is know as the most liberal campus in Sudan. There are always political demonstrations on campus against the government, but they usually do not go this far.