Egyptian security forces have stormed the female branch of al-Azhar University in Cairo’s Nasr City to disperse anti-government activists.

Fresh clashes erupted on Sunday when activists from the Students against Coup Movement staged a rally to denounce a recent clampdown on student demonstrators.

The students have been demanding an end to the military rule in the country.

Government forces accompanied by armored vehicles entered the campus and conducted a room-to-room search.

Egypt’s university campuses have witnessed regular anti-government demonstrations since the military ouster of the country’s first democratically-elected president, Mohamed Morsi, in July 2013.

More than 1,000 students have been arrested since the government launched a crackdown on pro-Morsi supporters last year, many of whom have been handed harsh jail terms in mass trials.

Officials also say more than 500 students have been expelled or suspended for alleged “rioting.”

The current Egyptian government has come under mounting pressure from human rights groups over its harsh crackdown on anti-government protesters.

Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has led to the death of over 1,400 people and the arrest of 22,000 others, including some 200 people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.