A 26-year-old Algerian nursing student was fatally stabbed in a Hanover apartment building, prompting protests and demands from Germany’s Arab and Muslim communities to classify the killing as a hate crime.

Rahma Ayat was found with multiple stab wounds to the shoulder and chest, according to multiple reports. Neighbors heard screams coming from her apartment on July 4 and alerted authorities. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

A 31-year-old German man who lived in the same building was taken into custody.

Speaking to Algerian media, Ayat’s mother said her daughter had been complaining about one of her neighbors for two months, alleging that he regularly shouted anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slurs at her. The family believes she was targeted for wearing the hijab, the Islamic headscarf worn by many Muslim women.

Protests have since erupted in cities across Germany, including Berlin, Hanover and Arnum, demanding that the killing be officially recognized as a hate crime.

“If the killer had been a Muslim and the victim German, this would be headline news everywhere,” one protester told Al Araby TV during a demonstration outside Ayat’s apartment building on Tuesday.

The Algerian government reportedly summoned German Ambassador Georg Felzheim in Algiers, urging Berlin to ensure the safety of Algerian nationals living in Germany.

On July 10, the Algerian consulate in Frankfurt announced it would cover the costs to repatriate Ayat’s body to Oran, where she will be buried.

The outrage has also reached the United States. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the country’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, condemned the murder and linked it to rising Islamophobia across Europe.

“Anti-Muslim hate is spinning out of control in Europe, fueled by the hateful rhetoric and policies of both far-right politicians and far-left politicians,” said CAIR Deputy Executive Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell. “European leaders must take action to curtail this rising tide of bigotry and respect religious freedom before this violence continues to spread and escalate.”