( CNN ) Her body was left on a riverbed next to a cemetery , burned and abandoned , found just days after her family reported her missing . Now , a nation is protesting -- viewing her murder , according to one petition , as a symbol of the growing trend of violence against women in Turkey . The government is promising to punish her attackers and do more to protect others like her . Three suspects have been arrested in the murder of Ozgecan Aslan , 20 , whose body was found Friday in Mersin 's Tarsus district in southern Turkey , according to the country 's semiofficial news agency Anadolu . She was reported missing Wednesday . Aslan allegedly fought a sexual assault before being killed by the driver of a bus she 'd taken to go home , Anadolu reported . She was a first-year university student . Her body was covered in gasoline , burned and then dumped in a riverbed , police in Mersin said in a statement . Her funeral was held Saturday in her hometown , the same day protesters marched in Istanbul and Ankara . `` You will never walk alone , '' Anadolu reported they shouted . `` We will put an end to female homicides . '' The demonstrators carried banners , and images of the glasses-clad , long-haired Aslan , chanting : `` We are here today . We revolt and we will continue to revolt until this stops . '' Protesters have also taken to the Internet , and their cries have been heard at the highest levels of government . The hashtag # OzgecanAslan renders thousands of tweets , updating hundreds every hour . On Monday , the country 's president , Recep Tayyip Erdogan , used Twitter to tell the country : `` To make sure the perpetrators who brutally slayed our daughter , Ozgecan , get the heaviest punishment that they deserve , I will personally pursue this lawsuit . '' An online petition calling for institutions to step up and take responsibility for attacks like the one on Aslan has so far gathered more than 600,000 signatures . According to Anadolu , the daughters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- Sumeyye Erdogan and Esra Albayrak -- visited Aslan 's family on Sunday . `` It is a very terrible situation , '' Sumeyye Erdogan reportedly said after the visit . `` We 've come here in order to be able to share their sorrow . Our actual aim is for those murderers to be punished in an effective way . '' CNN 's Gul Tuysuz contributed to this report .
Ozgecan Aslan , 20 , allegedly fought a sexual assault before being killed . Her body was covered in gasoline , burned and then dumped in a riverbed . The police are investigating the case as murder.