Kharkiv students protest against introduction of pad services at colleges and universities. Kharkiv, Ukraine.
Though for foreigners the school fees is cheap but more than 200 female Ukrainian university students protested against newly imposed school fees in the eastern city Kharkiv, with some driving home their point by taking off their clothes, the Interfax news agency stated on Tuesday.
The demonstrators gathered in the city's central square to shout and chant slogans in front of the provincial governor's office - some walking 500 metres topless in 8 degree Celsius temperatures.
A protest spokeswoman said government plans to hike the cost of university education would leave a low-income student unable to continue studies "without selling the clothes off her back."
The majority of the marchers, however, remained warmly dressed, eyewitnesses said.
The women were protesting the recent imposition by Ukraine's central government of fees for test-taking, applications and course reviews, which had previously been free for university students.