A group of students of the Armenian State University of Economics have been staging a protest outside the university building since Monday morning demanding the return of resigned interim rector Ruben Hayrapetyan to office.

Hayrapetyan stepped down in late August after being accused of plagiarism in his PhD dissertation by some lectures of the university. Diana Galoyan is set to perform the interim rector’s duties after his resignation.

The students on the strike claim that the discrimination against the former university head and calls for his resignation ‘undermine’ a whole system of reforms launched by Hayrapetyan.

Several lecturers of the university also joined the protesting students, with one of them hailing the reforms initiated by the dismissed rector as a ‘necessity’ for the university.