A 17-year-old girl in Denmark has seen a wave of support after police threatened to fine her for using pepper spray to fight off a sex attacker.

The teenager told police Wednesday evening that she was sexually assaulted by a dark-skinned English-speaking man near a migrant asylum center in central Sønderborg. She said the man knocked her to the ground and tried to undress her before she was able to fight him off with her pepper spray, which is illegal in Denmark, The Local reported.

“It is illegal to possess and use pepper spray, so she will likely be charged for that,” local police spokesman Knud Kirsten told the Danish channel TV Syd.

The man who allegedly attacked the girl fled the scene and has not been charged. It is unclear if the man was an asylum seeker or refugee.

Numerous readers wrote in the comments section on TV Syd’s story about the incident that they would be willing to pay the girl’s fine, which will most likely be 500 kroner, or $730, The Local reported.

The news comes after several female residents in Sønderborg reported earlier this month that they felt harassed by some of the asylum seekers in the area. A nightclub in the town has gone as far as barring guests if they cannot speak Danish, English or German.

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