World

Germans honour slain 'role model' Tugce Albayrak

November 30, 2014 5:26 pm

Tributes are being paid in Germany to student Tugce Albayrak who was killed after defending two teenage girls reportedly being harassed by a group of men.

Hundreds were expected to attend a silent vigil in Berlin in her memory.

President Joachim Gauck has described the student as a “role model”.

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A man, 18, is in custody over the 15 November attack, which left Ms Albayrak in a coma. Her life support was switched off on Friday.

She had intervened when she heard cries for help from the toilet of a fast food restaurant in the town of Offenbach, near Frankfurt, where the two girls were being harassed, German media report.

Later, one of the men returned and attacked her in the car park, striking her head with a stone or a bat.

Her parents made the decision to turn off life support on Friday, her 23rd birthday, when doctors told them she would never regain consciousness and was brain-dead.