BERLIN (AFP) ― Mourners flocked to the funeral Wednesday of a young German-Turkish woman who has become a symbol of civic courage for giving her life trying to protect two teenage girls.
Calls have mounted in a mass online campaign for Tugce Albayrak, 23, to be posthumously awarded the Federal Order of Merit for her bravery in stepping in to help the teens being victimized in a fast food restaurant fracas.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed support for the proposal to present the award which has garnered nearly 170,000 signatures in an online petition.
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| Mourners cry as they stand in front of the grave of Tugce Albayrak during her burial at the cemetery in Bad Soden-Salmnster, western Germany, Wednesday. (AFP-Yonhap) |
After confronting a group of men who were harassing the girls last month, the student teacher received a blow to the head that sent her into a coma.
Her family switched off her life support system on Friday, her 23rd birthday, sparking a wave of sympathy in Germany, in both social and mainstream media, and widespread revulsion over the attack.
At the funeral service, German and Turkish flags fluttered in the wind as around 1,000 mourners fell silent for prayers in a ceremony conducted according to Islamic rites and televised live.
The premier of western Hesse state joined the mourners who were bundled up warmly against icy temperatures for the service outside a mosque in the town of Waechtersbach.
The coffin was then taken for burial in nearby Bad Soden-Salmuenster, where Albayrak was born.
A surveillance video posted online by German Bild daily shows the Nov. 15 incident in the car park outside the McDonald’s restaurant in the town of Offenbach near Frankfurt.
It is unclear whether the young woman suffered the head injury from being struck by her attacker or in the subsequent fall.
An 18-year-old man is in custody and an investigation is under way.
The two teenage girls contacted police at the weekend after appeals to come forward but investigators have not divulged information about their statements.
Newspapers have hailed Albayrak as a role model in a country that is home to about three million people of Turkish origin, but which often struggles with its identity as a multicultural society.
President Joachim Gauck described her in a condolence letter to her family as having shown “bravery and civil courage in an exemplary way” and said she would always remain “a role model.”
Merkel has “great sympathy” for the idea of presenting the national award, her spokesman told reporters, but added that it was up to the German president to decide.
