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.
Around 150 people attended a vigil in
Berlin in her memory on Sunday.
President Joachim Gauck has described
the student as a "role model".
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 her 23rd birthday when doctors told them she would never
regain consciousness and was brain-dead.
Over a hundred people took part in a
silent vigil for the student in Berlin on Sunday
Dozens of people placed flowers and
candles on a poster praising the "civil courage" of Ms Albayrak
Women and girls held candles outside Ms
Albayrak's hospital in Offenbach on Friday
A card from a 10-year-old girl left
outside the hospital in Offenbach on Sunday reads: "Dear Tugce, I admire
your courage. You are a hero. Rest in peace."
A petition calling for Ms Albayrak to
be awarded the national order for merit posthumously has gathered over 100,000
signatures.
Confirming he would consider the
award, President Mr Gauck wrote to her family to say: "Like countless
citizens, I am shocked and appalled by this terrible act. Tugce has earned
gratitude and respect from us all.
"She will always remain a role
model to us, our entire country mourns with you.
"Where other people looked the
other way, Tugce showed exemplary courage and moral fortitude."
Before Sunday's "civil courage"
vigil on Oranienplatz in Berlin, tributes were paid in Offenbach, with people
holding signs which read "Thank you, Tugce".
Oranienplatz is in the heart of
Berlin's Kreuzberg district, which has a large Turkish community. Ms Albayrak,
who was from the town of Gelnhausen, also near Frankfurt, was Turkish by
origin.
Her attacker, named only as Senal M
from the Sandzak region of Serbia, has confessed to striking Ms Albayrak,