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Around fifty fully-uniformed New South Wales police officers run to climb the 1320 steps of Sydney's tallest building Centrepoint Tower August 13 as part of a charity event called 'Cop to the Top'. The event raised around $A20,000 (US$13,000) for cancer research, and was won by Constable Scott Tozer in a time of ten minutes and 26 seconds. Reuters Photographer

Students demonstrating against Education Minister Christopher Pyne in Sydney's Masonic Centre in Goulburn Street on Friday were pepper sprayed. The revelation comes from a bling university student.

Anna Amelia, a student of international relations and development studies at the University of NSW, said that students had been forcibly removed as they were sprayed in the face. The 23-year-old called it a more terrifying experience than the Christchurch earthquake in 2010. Amelia, who is legally blind, said that her tunnel vision had been totally obstructed by the spray.

"I just remember a bit of push and shove and the next minute it felt like the entire world was on fire, felt like somebody had set fire to my lungs, my eyes were burning,” The Sydney Morning Herald quotes her, “I didn't know what was happening, I didn't know which way was up, down, left or right. It was just pain." The university student said that she had been “really scared and disoriented” as she “almost panicked.”

Pyne was delivering a lecture to educator groups on the future of teacher education in Australia. The inaugural Hedley Beare Memorial Lecture was the Australian government’s reaction to the report released by the Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group. Video footage shows students chanting "No cuts, No fees, No corporate universities" and moving into the building. While they were removed from the building, they said that they had the right to demonstrate. Multiple protesters claimed that they had been sprayed in the face.

According to Ridah Hassan from the National Union of Students, the police behaviour was “disgraceful.” ABC News quotes her saying that the protesters were “pushed by police.” She also claimed that he had been “pepper-sprayed right in the face.” She wondered why Pyne could not face up to the fact that students were against his higher education reforms. Students poured milk over the faces of those who had been sprayed.

Hassan said that the students were determined to fight as they would come out on Mar. 25 to protest in numbers. She called the incident as “an absolute disgrace by the NSW police.”

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@IBTimes.com.au