More than 168,000 Russians have signed an online petition calling for Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev's resignation after he suggested a low-paid lecturer get a different job.
His comments -- widely seen as out of touch and uncaring -- unleashed a torrent of bile in the press and on social media, with a petition on Change.Org calling for his ouster garnering 168,000 signatures by Friday.
"The cabinet should be led by a person who is competent, educated and cares about the country," wrote the petition's author, Alexander Li.
"We are seeing the opposite right now."
The lower house of parliament is obliged to debate any petition that gets 100,000 signatures.
At a youth education forum on Tuesday, Medvedev was asked by a university lecturer from the impoverished Dagestan region why teachers receive only around 15,000 rubles ($230) per month, while police are significantly better paid.
"There's no need to compare," Medvedev said. "The issue is what you choose in life.
Teaching, he said, "is a vocation. If you want to earn money, there are a bunch of great places where you can do that quicker and better in business. And you didn't go into business.
