Students at one of Russia's largest universities are calling for the resignation of a campus official who made homophobic comments online.

Andrei Bukhantsov, student ombudsman at Moscow's prestigious Higher School of Economics, first sparked controversy when he described a protest against the capital's controversial home demolition scheme as a “gay parade.”

He later attempted to apologize, telling his followers on Russian social network Vkontakte that he was “sorry for confusing gays with ordinary people.”