The “whole world watched” yesterday as hundreds joined a candlelight vigil in remembrance of the hundreds of migrants who perished in the Mediterranean over the weekend.

About 1,000 people, some holding candles or white flowers and others carrying banners that read #AllLivesMatter, walked from Spinola Bay in St Julian’s to Exiles in Sliema.

There, they placed the candles on the rocks, where they flickered against the waves of the same sea that had swallowed up more than 800 migrants seeking a better life.

Some who had survived what has become the deadliest migrant crossing shed tears as they joined the rest in prayerful singing.

“The turnout tonight is a ray of hope. All the world is watching,” Filimon Tsadu, from Eritrea said, referring to the international media covering the walk.

Participants in the Sliema vigil lighting candles yesterday to remember the hundreds of migrants who drowned off Libya on Sunday.

I decided to come here because no matter the religion or where we come from, we’re all the same

Candle in hand, the young man was accompanied by fellow Eritrean Simale Kiflom, who said they had joined the walk in solidarity with the people who died at sea as well as those beheaded in Libya by ISIS.

The two friends have been in Malta for nearly two years. Asked if they would still have fled their homeland knowing how dangerous the trip was going to be, they said they would have taken the risk.

The walk was organised by four Maltese individuals to recognise the people who died at sea “as human beings and not numbers”.

People wanted to send a powerful message and they had managed to do so through the good turnout, one of the organisers, Maria Pisani, said, looking back at the long trail of walkers stretching along the seafront.

A woman breaks down in tears.

A schoolgirl shares a moment of silence yesterday morning, when about 25 pupils from the Msida primary school, St Theresa College, threw flowers into the sea at the Msida marina to remember the hundreds of migrants who have lost their lives at sea

One of the participants, Italian Miriam Ebejer, who lives in Malta, expressed her support for “human beings who leave their country, not for a holiday, but for a better life”.

“It’s about time that the international powers tackle the problem at source and not cry afterwards, when the tragedies take place.

“These people could have been us not so long ago, when the Maltese and Italians boarded ships headed for a better life in countries such as Australia.”

Moroccan Fatiha Fifi joined the walk instead of going to work yesterday evening: “I decided to come here instead, because no matter the religion or where we’re coming from, we’re all the same. We’re all human beings.”

Participants included President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, Justice Minister Owen Bonnici, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and US Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley.