People around the world honor victims after attack

Sydney Harbour Bridge and Eiffel Tower glow with the rainbow colors

Crowds flocked to vigils around the world on Monday in shock at the shooting of dozens of Florida clubgoers in the deadliest attack on the gay communities.

In Orlando, mourners piled bouquets around a makeshift memorial, and people broke down in tears and held their hands to their faces while passing through the growing collection of flowers, candles and signs about a kilometer from the site of the massacre.

"We will not be defined by the act of a cowardly hater," vowed Mayor Buddy Dyer, whose city of a quarter-million people is known around the globe as the home of Walt Disney World and other theme parks.

Meanwhile, thousands lined the streets in the central London district of Soho, long a hub for the gay community in the United Kingdom, bursting into chants of "we're here, we're queer, we will not live in fear" under rainbow flags.

A policeman at the scene estimated the crowd at between 5,000 and 7,000 strong, as other rallies took place in cities from Berlin to Bangkok. |

"It's about solidarity, it's a way for our voice to be heard - to try to tell everybody that love wins," said Julius Reuben, 35, wearing towering heels and a long black dress.

"It made me feel more insecure," he added. "We shouldn't have to protect ourselves so much, we should be accepted for who we are."

The crowd in London released 49 brightly colored balloons into the sky for each one of the victims of the massacre.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim to hold the post, attended the vigil.

"It was an attack on our freedoms and our values," Khan said. "What's really important is that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the victims and their families in Orlando."

Gun laws 'helpful'

In Australia, the landmark Sydney Harbour Bridge was lit with the rainbow colors of the gay community flag as hundreds gathered to condemn terror and homophobia.

"This could have happened anywhere," Paul Savage said at a candlelight vigil for the victims on the busy strip that hosts Sydney's annual Mardi Gras pride march.

"He could easily have walked into a bar in Sydney," he said, though he added that Australia's tighter gun laws were "much more helpful" in preventing the mass shootings that claim hundreds of lives each year in the United States.

And in the Netherlands, the first country to legalize same-sex marriage, hundreds gathered at Amsterdam's "Homomonument", composed of three pink triangles, designed to commemorate gay men and women who have been persecuted because of their sexuality.

The Eiffel Tower was lit up in rainbow colors and the colors of the US flag in solidarity, as the city still reels from November jihadist attacks in which 130 people were killed.

FBI: Gunman was 'self-radicalized'

The gunman who launched the worst terror attack on US soil since Sept 11, 2001 attacks was self-radicalized by online extremist propaganda, officials said, amid reports he was a club regular.

US investigators believe that Omar Mateen was a "lone wolf" inspired by Islamist propaganda to carry out what President Barack Obama dubbed "an act of terror and an act of hate".

In a twist to the story, some people said Mateen, 29, had been a regular at the club, media reported.

"Sometimes he would go over in the corner and sit and drink by himself, and other times he would get so drunk he was loud and belligerent," Ty Smith told the Orlando Sentinel.

Smith said he had seen Mateen inside the club at least a dozen times.

Another club regular, Kevin West, told the Los Angeles Times that Mateen messaged him on and off for a year using a gay chat app.