Liam Payne fans grieve at global vigils: ‘Like I’ve lost someone from my family’
Fans in the UK and around the world are holding vigils this weekend in memory of Liam Payne, the One Direction star who died on Wednesday.
Police estimated that between 800 and 1,000 people gathered in London’s Hyde Park on Sunday afternoon to remember the 31-year-old who died after falling from the third floor of a hotel balcony in Argentina.
The crowd sang One Direction songs, such as the chart-topping hit What Makes You Beautiful, with many fans in tears.
A memorial has already been held in Liverpool and Payne’s home city of Wolverhampton, with more gatherings planned on Sunday in Manchester and Birmingham.
Groups of fans have also come together in Paris, Sydney, Manila and elsewhere.
It is not yet known when his body will be repatriated to the UK.
Fans showed up in London’s Hyde Park, braving the drizzly weather on Sunday afternoon, and brought with them letters, pictures and flowers.
Many were placing them at the Peter Pan statue where the memorial was being held.
Details of the various memorials worldwide have been circulating on social media, with fans encouraged to bring letters, flowers and messages.
Fans showed up in London’s Hyde Park, braving the drizzly weather on Sunday afternoon, and brought with them letters, pictures and flowers.
Many were placing them at the Peter Pan statue where the memorial was being held.
Details of the various memorials worldwide have been circulating on social media, with fans encouraged to bring letters, flowers and messages.
Fans Emily and Olivia first fell in love with Liam Payne and One Direction when they were at school.
“Growing up, it’s hard to put it in words, but being a Directioner became such an important community for me,” said Emily, 25.
“Being young at the time, it was my first feeling of being in love, my first feeling of crushing on a boy, of being excited about boys,” added Olivia, who is 23. “I kissed the posters every night. We all did.”
“It felt like you were part of the best club in the world and it’s a huge part of why we bonded together.”
She added that part of the reason why Payne’s death has hit so hard, is because she “always hoped for a One Direction reunion one day”.
“We took it for granted,” she said.
A One Direction fan from the US told the PA news agency that she ended her visit to Dublin abruptly to go to Hyde Park to be with other Liam Payne fans.
She described the singer’s death as “very sad and devastating, and shocking”.
“It’s a reminder of what a huge part of my childhood and growing up, Liam and One Direction were,” she added.
In Paris, a crowd gathered and flowers and candles were laid at the Tuilerie Gardens beneath a framed photo of the singer on Sunday afternoon.
Pictures show some fans crying and hugging each other, with many sitting on the ground in front of where tributes had been placed.
One fan at the vigil, Alexandra Veloso Silva, 31, told the Reuters news agency it felt like she had “lost someone from my family”.
Another fan Roman, 23, said Payne’s death feels like “another subject that brings us relief has been taken from us”.
In Liverpool on Saturday, a group of Directioners, the name given to followers of the X Factor-formed boy band, gathered at the Keel Warf Bridge at Royal Albert Dock.
Some had cardboard signs with the band’s lyrics on them, including one saying “I’m missing half of me when we’re apart”, from the band’s single If I Could Fly.
Another memorial card said Forever Young, a nod to the Alphaville track of the same name that One Direction covered.
Photographs of Payne, flowers, teddy bears and balloons were left at the bridge, and the group sang One Direction songs.
Earlier this weekend, people came together in Wolverhampton, where the singer was born in 1993.
Around 100 people looked down with their heads, bowed as flowers were laid outside St Peter’s Church.
One fan also left a photo of Payne as a child, surrounded by candles.
Around the world, people have also been paying their respects.
Reuters People gather outside the hotel where Liam Payne, former One Direction band member, was found dead after he fell from a third-floor hotel room balcony, in Buenos Aires.Reuters
Vigils have also been held outside the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires
In Buenos Aires, people gathered outside the hotel where Payne was found dead.
And in Sydney, fans also congregated with one called Amber telling the Reuters news agency about the sense of loss she was feeling.
Organiser Alicia Sinclair, 22, from Hertfordshire, said One Direction was “a light in a lot of people’s lives, especially mine”.
Speaking to BBC 5 Live Breakfast, she added: “There are a lot of people upset and it’s a good time for us to come together and be with people who understand.”
“My favourite memories with my sister are almost entirely revolving around One Direction,” she said.
“So for me it feels like, I guess like the end of us growing up together. That’s what makes it so hard.”
Another, Christina, said the news of his death had “really hit home”.
“I think Liam just made a massive impact on his fans. I personally have been a fan for over 12 years,” she said.
PA Media A picture of all five bandmates in One DirectionPA Media
One Direction were one of the most successful boybands in the world
Payne rose to global fame as part of the boyband One Direction – created on The X Factor TV show in 2010 – and sang together with bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik and Niall Horan.
Malik left the group in 2015 to embark on a solo singing career, and the band later split in 2016.
On Saturday, Malik announced he had postponed the US leg of his upcoming tour after the “heartbreaking loss” of his former bandmate.
Payne’s family have also been paying tribute. His sister Ruth Gibbins described Payne as her “best friend” in an emotional Instagram post, adding that she didn’t feel “this world was good enough or kind enough” to him.
Meanwhile in Argentina, Payne’s father, Geoff Payne, on Friday viewed tributes for his son outside the Casa Sur hotel in Buenos Aires.
He also visited the morgue in the city to officially identify his son. A federal prosecutor previously told the BBC that his body had been “released”, meaning no further tests were being carried out and identification could take place.