Egyptian riot police, prompting teargas fire, then chased them through a crowded Cairo neighbourhood.

A protest organiser said 40 Sudanese were injured. Police officials said 60 police officers were also hurt. Fifteen protesters had been arrested.

About 500 demonstrators, many of them from Sudan's western Darfur provinces, accused the world organisation of failing to provide refugees from Sudan with adequate protection and refugee status.

They also held banners with messages calling for international peacekeeping troops to be sent to Darfur, where an estimated 30000 people have been killed in an 18-month conflict, and demanding Arab militias known as Janjaweed to be disarmed and expelled from the region.

The demonstration outside offices of the UN High Commission for Refugees in the Cairo suburb of Mohandeseen was organised by Sudanese community leaders and an Egyptian nongovernmental organisation.

Demonstrators from across Sudan, including Darfur, chanted anti-UN slogans and held banners bearing messages including "Deploy international peacekeeping troops to Darfur, and Evacuate Arab militia from Darfur and disarm them".

Riot police stepped between demonstrators and the gates to the UN building and the protest soon turned violent. Refugees showered rocks on the UN building, police vehicles and the outnumbered security forces. Police responded with barrages of tear gas before reinforcements arrived to cordon off the area and chase protesters away. Sapa-AFP