Fresh protests broke out Monday at several universities in Iran's capital, local media reported, over the death of a young woman who had been arrested by the "morality police" that enforces a strict dress code.
The rallies came a day after police made arrests and fired tear gas in the woman's home province of Kurdistan, where some 500 people had protested, some smashing car windows and torching rubbish bins, reports said.
Public anger has grown since authorities on Friday announced the death of Mahsa Amini, 22, in a hospital after three days in a coma, following her arrest by Tehran's morality police during a visit to the capital.
Such police units enforce a dress code in the Islamic republic that demands women wear headscarves in public.
It also bans tight trousers, ripped jeans, clothes that expose the knees and brightly coloured outfits.
Police have insisted there was "no physical contact" between officers and the victim.
Tehran police chief General Hossein Rahimi said on Monday that the woman had violated the dress code, and that his colleagues had asked her relatives to bring her "decent clothes."
He again rejected "unjust accusations against the police" and said that "the evidence shows that there was no negligence or inappropriate behaviour on the part of the police."
"This is an unfortunate incident and we wish never to see such incidents again."
Students rallied, however, including at the capital's Tehran and Shahid Beheshti Universities, demanding "clarification" on how Amini died, according to Fars and Tasnim news agencies.
Protests were reported in other universities elsewhere.
Her death has reignited calls to rein in morality police actions against women suspected of violating the dress code, in effect since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Filmmakers, artists, athletes and political and religious figures have taken to social media to express their anger over the death, both inside and outside the country.
President Ebrahim Raisi, an ultra-conservative former judiciary chief who came to power last year, has ordered an inquiry into Amini's death.
