Iranian police deploy at universities as unrest over Mahsa Amini's death churns on

Female protesters react and chant towards a man standing at a podium in Shiraz, Fars province, Iran October 4, 2022 in this still image from a video obtained by REUTERS NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES.

DUBAI (Reuters) -Iranian security forces deployed at universities in several cities on Wednesday, witnesses said, stepping up efforts to quell more than two weeks of protests ignited by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of morality police.

The nationwide unrest sparked by her death has spiralled into the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical leaders in years, with protesters calling for the downfall of the Islamic Republic founded in 1979.