'stirred unrest' is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it when you want to express that an event caused an atmosphere of unrest or disquiet, such as in the example sentence, "The government's decision to raise taxes stirred unrest amongst the public."
Historically, high inflation has stirred unrest in China.
The charges against Mr. Dias stirred unrest late Wednesday in Dakar, the nation's capital.
The death of the prisoner has also stirred unrest in the West Bank.
Although the run-off itself was largely peaceful, the result quickly stirred unrest in the loser's camp.
On the streets of the Hatikva quarter, one of the low-income neighborhoods in south Tel Aviv where an influx of illegal African migrants has stirred unrest among residents, tension is simmering under a facade of normalcy.
In Yemen, aggressive Saudi-Wahhabi proselytising, starting in the 1990s, stirred unrest among the Zaidi communities (a branch of Shia Islam), which then led to a series of Houthi uprisings.
Both Turkey and Iran worry that an independence vote by Iraqi Kurds will stir unrest among their own Kurdish minorities.
India has acceded but, in return, has made the reasonable demand that Pakistan not try to stir unrest in India.
The reports indicated that the government was reviving old accusations against the activists about working on behalf of foreign powers to stir unrest in Egypt.
The Bosnian crisis was settled, but the Serbs felt their national pride deeply wounded and continued to stir unrest in the South Slav provinces of the Habsburg monarchy.
Bat Ayin residents said in recent days that they were unfairly targeted, and some alleged that Palestinians threw the firebomb to stir unrest.
