Thousands gather in Melbourne's Treasury Gardens for Light The Dark vigil for asylum seekers
Updated
Thousands of people have gathered in Melbourne's Treasury Gardens in a vigil for asylum seekers and to honour the toddler found drowned on a Turkish beach.
Organisers called on those gathered at the Light The Dark vigil to light a candle for Aylan Kurdi, who died fleeing from Syria with his family.
The photo has become a symbol of the Syrian asylum seekers fleeing their homeland in the European crisis.
Participants wanted to send a message of solidarity and welcome for asylum seekers across the world.
One woman carried a sign saying "we are sorry" and "welcome refugees".
The participants called on the Federal Government to welcome more refugees and paused for a minute of silence for the dead boy.
"We will keep coming out to fight, to light the dark until our Government opens its heart and opens the door," Pamela Curr, of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, told the crowd.
"We need to open our hearts. We've done it before and we'll do it again."
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews echoed that message earlier when he called on the Federal Government to increase the number of humanitarian refugees for Australia.
Opposition Leader Matthew Guy backed the call and said the former army barracks at Point Nepean could be used to house the refugees.
Similar rallies were also held in Perth, Sydney and Adelaide and others will be held in Brisbane and Canberra later this week.
Topics: activism-and-lobbying, government-and-politics, refugees, immigration, melbourne-3000
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