This weekend, demonstrators took to the streets of Istanbul to protest the murder of trans activist and sex worker Hande Kader.

The 23-year-old woman, who went missing earlier this month, was last seen by friends getting into an unidentified client’s car. Her body was then found days later on Friday August 12, and was reportedly so badly burned that it required additional prosthetics to be identified. According to local media, she had been raped, beaten, and set on fire.

Kader was a well-known LGBTQ activist and had been photographed on the front lines at a number of protests in Istanbul. This includes last year’s Gay Pride parade, where she apparently refused to move after police used rubber bullets, water cannons and pepper spray to disperse the crowds.

“Hande was one of the nicest people in the world,” her roommate Davut Dengiler told the BBC. “She was very calm normally, but also hyperactive. She always went to the LGBTI marches. She pursued a cause that she felt right until the end.”

“She would go crazy when trans individuals were killed,” he added. “She’d be so sad... She had been stabbed and beaten before. This didn’t happen only to Hande. It happens to all of them.”

Kader’s murder has sparked an uproar across the world, with thousands now demanding justice for the 23-year-old. Last week, the hashtag ‘#HandeKadereSesVer’ (Give voice to Hande Kader) began trending on social media, and on Sunday (August 21) protests broke out in Istanbul over the lack of police response.

“We will not stop until we find those responsible for Hande Kader's murder,” said Ebru Kiranci, spokeswoman for Istanbul's LGBTI Solidarity Association.

So far, no arrests have been made in the case.