Fans gather to mourn Liam Payne’s death at UK and other vigils

LONDON – Fans mourning Liam Payne’s death turned out across Britain and beyond at organised vigils, with at least 1,000 gathering in central London to pay tribute to the former One Direction star.
It came four days after Payne died aged 31 following a fall from the balcony of his Buenos Aires hotel room, prompting an outpouring of grief and condolences from family, former bandmates, fans and others.
Investigators have said he appeared to have been “going through an episode of substance abuse”.
Those at the London memorial at the Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park were encouraged in social media posts to bring “flowers, letters, balloons, pictures” and did not disappoint.
Elsewhere, news reports and social media posts showed hundreds also gathered in the Scottish cities Edinburgh and Glasgow, as well as Paris, New York, Stockholm and many other places.
Fans were also set to gather later Sunday in Birmingham in central England — near Wolverhampton where Payne was born and raised.
He would shoot to fame around the world as a teenager in the hugely successful pop group One Direction, which formed in 2010 after its members appeared on “The X Factor”.
Sunday’s meet-ups mirror gatherings seen across Latin American in recent days.
In Buenos Aires, tearful fans have continued to mass in front of the Casa Sur Hotel, where Payne plunged to his death and an altar dedicated to him has been created full of flowers and messages.
Meanwhile Mexico City, the Ecuadorian capital Quito and various towns and cities in Colombia are among the other places to have seen impromptu ceremonies for Payne.