KYIV -- Hundreds of demonstrators have rallied in the Ukrainian capital to protest against the appointment of Serhiy Shkarlet as acting Minister of Education and Science.
Scholars, students, teachers, and civil rights activists took part in the rally on June 30, accusing the rector of Chernihiv National University of Technology of plagiarism and expressing outrage over his past association with the Russia-friendly Party of Regions.
The protesters held placards and put a toilet with a sign reading, "For Diplomas from Shkarlet," next to a government building. One man wore a mask depicting Shkarlet and pretended to auction off diplomas.
From the government building, the protesters marched to the presidential office where they staged a sit-in protest.
The government appointed Shkarlet as acting Minister of Education and Science on June 25, several days after a parliamentary commission refused to approve him to the ministerial post.
The protesters gathered all their posters and passed them to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via the presidential office representatives.
Shkarlet served as a council member for the Party of Regions in Chernihiv Oblast. Former President Viktor Yanukovych was a member of the party before he was toppled in 2014 by antigovernment protests known as Euromaidan.
Shkarlet also ran for the Chernihiv Regional Council under former President Petro Poroshenko’s bloc.