About 300 employees of the Ural Federal University gathered at an unorganized rally in Yekaterinburg to protest the planned layoff of staff, a news report said.
Protesters demanded that the university postpone for a year its plans to lay off 800 teachers by September, the Russian Service of RFE/RL reported Monday. The delay would allow employees to find new jobs, protesters argued.
Construction work began about an hour before the start of the rally at the university's main campus, in what protesters described as an attempt by city authorities to detail their protest, the report said.
No detentions were reported at the unsanctioned rally.
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