Thousands of people in Germany bid farewell to a young Turkish woman who was brutally attacked for trying to rescue two women from being harassed, before her life support machine was switched off.
Tuğçe Albayrak, a 22-year-old student of Turkish-descent, went into the coma on November 15 after she intervened between three men of Serbian-descent who were harassing two women in a restaurant in the German city of Offenbach.
She was brutally beaten by 18-year-old M Sanel, in a car park an hour after she had stepped into help two women screaming for help in front of the restaurant’s bathroom.
Her family and friends were informed on Wednesday that she was left brain dead by the attack.
Ms Albayrak’s parents decided to switch the life support machine off yesterday – the day of her 23rd birthday.
Thousands of people staged silent protests on Thursday in front of the restaurant where she was attacked, bidding farewell to the brave girl.
The crowd wore t-shirts with Tuğçe’s photo captioned “Seni seviyoruz” (we love you) and held hand-written signs saying “Danke (thank you) Tuğçe.”
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Speaking to the Daily Hurriyet, Tuğçe’s uncle Yasin Albayrak reproached the family of her attacker for not expressing sorrow over the incident.
“Their kids made a mistake. They could at least say ‘Your pain is our pain.’ I feel sorry for that kid also. But I guess they don’t feel sorry for our daughter,” he said.
Albayrak also called on the two German women saved by Tuğçe to give a deposition to the police.
