Tens of thousands gathered to march to Westminster yesterday in solidarity with refugees.

The march, which may have had as many as 90,000 participants, was organised to demonstrate the scale of public support for helping refugees.

The Facebook event page said: "We have to ensure that refugees can reach Europe safely. There needs to be either official safe transport provided, or if people could apply for asylum from outside the EU they would be able to enter by official routes."

It hoped to convict Theresa May of the public opinion before she attends emergency talks on the crisis on 14 September.

The march spanned political affiliation, organisations and faiths, uniting around a mutual concern for human suffering caused by the refugee crisis.

Two members of the Jewish contingent at the march said: "We feel a strong sense – as we have been kicked out of a lot of places – it is really important as Jewish community that if we are able to offer support that we do."

The associate vicar from St Martin's in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, was at the march with refugees and asylum seekers already in her congregation.

"We are here to show solidarity for those who are finding themselves strangers in foreign lands. We are here to welcome them," she said.

A Quaker from Ealing hoped the march would "encourage people to make sense of what is going on. It is obvious what is right to do. Quakers are all about healing, peace and reconciliation,not seeing them and us, but seeing how we can help people."

An anti-fracking campaigner had just returned from Hungary and spoke of the hope he had.

"I have learned not to let the figureheads define what we are all about because it is not [them], they're so out of touch with everything.

"There is so much love for the people, so much solidarity.

"More than anything it shows people who feel like the problem is important, but don't know what the general feeling is, that it is alright to support refugees."

The march serendipitously fell on the day Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader of the Labour Party. He spoke at Parliament Square to those who had marched from Marble Arch, indicating his support for the refugees.

When asked what the point of yesterday's march was, one protester said he hoped that the volume of support would show Westminster taking in 20,000 refugees is not enough: "It points out to people in power that there is a groundswell of support for acepting more people and treating them with humanity, which is what everyone deserves."