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Three young men set upon the woman outside the Usera Metro station in the Spanish capital. She received several blows and was taken to hospital by ambulance, suffering from a panic attack and concussion.
Police in Madrid are treating the incident as a hate crime, El Mundo reports. The Diversity Management Unit of Madrid's police force is investigating the case.
The unit investigates any act of intolerance and discrimination that occurs in the Spanish capital, whether it's a criminal offense or not.
The woman told investigators that the men insulted her and started beating her because she was wearing a hijab and looked like a Muslim.
Numerous politicians and officials were quick to condemn the assault which came less than a week after the terror attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils that killed 14 people and injured another 130.
"We condemn the sexist aggression suffered yesterday. Madrid will always be an open and cosmopolitan city," José Luis Martínez-Almeida, a spokesman for Madrid's Municipal People's Group, wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, El Pais reports that the Diversity Management Unit are investigating "xenophobic and Islamophobic" banners hung on a building that the neo-Nazi Hogar Social group uses as its headquarters.
'Islam destroys Europe' and 'Terrorists Welcome,' a reference to the 'Refugees welcome' campaign, the banners read.
Authorities have called for them to be removed.
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