A GIRL of 13 who complained she was sexually assaulted on holiday in Turkey by a German teenager has been give police protection after her home was besieged by foreign journalists.

German TV crews, photographers and reporters have been camped out on the doorstep of the Greater Manchester teenager for days.

Teachers at her school have claimed that journalists with foreign accents have been posing as education officials in bid to gain information about her.

Footage of the girl walking to school has been aired on German TV and photographs have been published in European newspapers, which have also reported her name in articles.

The harassment has become so intolerable that the girl and her family have been forced to flee their home.

There is public outrage in Germany that the accused 17-year-old boy has spent ten weeks in prison in Turkey awaiting a court hearing.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Turkish authorities to release him, triggering a diplomatic row between the two countries.

British media organisations, including the MEN, have not identified the girl, in line with the code of conduct governing any report of an alleged victim of a sex attack, but German journalists have not been restrained in their coverage.

The head teacher at the girl's school has handed letters to all 1,400 pupils warning them not to speak to journalists outside the school gates.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: "We have given support to the family which has reported media harassment."

Reporter Shila Behjat, who works for the London bureau of the German national newspaper Bild, was outside the girl's home with a German colleague and two photographers.

"This is massive news in our country," she said.

"All we want to do is speak to the mother. We want her side of the story.

"It is difficult because there is a German boy in a Turkish prison and the only evidence seems to be the complaint from the English mother."