The echoing voices of a group of 30 Liam Payne fans — holding up signs and posters with the face of the late One Direction star — running through a busy street of Buenos Aires, Argentina Saturday afternoon as they called for justice in Payne's death investigation.
“Justice for Liam! Justice for Liam!” they repeated in unison in front of the courthouse, some holding back tears and others screaming at the top of their lungs: “No to impunity! No to impunity!”
The march, which included fans from across Buenos Aires, called for significant and timely advances in the investigation into the circumstances surrounding Payne's death. Wearing white T-shirts and holding up posters of Payne's face, the fans first gathered at Plaza Libertad, before making their way to the courthouse.
Monday marked exactly two months since Payne died of multiple traumas and internal bleeding after falling from the third floor balcony of the CasaSur Palermo hotel. But many questions still haunt the case and the circumstances that led to his death. Saturday's march was spawned, specifically, after an image leaked online, which appeared to show Payne being carried by three hotel workers back to his room, supposedly mere minutes before he fell off the balcony of a third-story room of the CasaSur Palermo hotel in Buenos Aires.
Payne fans march and chant “¡Justicia por Liam!” in front of a Buenos Aires courthouse Saturday
Segismundo Trivero/Rolling Stone Argentina
“We were all very upset about those images,” Valentina Loredanna Bracho, one of the march's organizers, tells Rolling Stone. “You can tell with that photo that the hotel could've done more to save him… They cared more about the image of the lobby than the actual well-being of one of its guests.”
Just days before the march, two hotel workers — the receptionist head and the hotel's manager — were charged in the case, and are being investigated for alleged negligence leading to wrongful death.
“We don't have much trust in the justice system either,” adds Jennifer Melian, another organizer. “It takes years for there to be justice in some cases here, and it's taking way too long in this one.”
Most of the fans gathered Saturday directed their ire at the hotel staff, with one fan poster reading in English, “Why did they take him fainting up to the room and [not] call and wait for an ambulance?” Some fans pointed to Payne's Argentine friend, who recently spoke to TMZ, while others held up images of the two people accused of supplying the singer with drugs.
“We want to apply pressure and show them that we're watching,” says Alex Silva, who traveled three hours by bus from Buenos Aires suburb Alejandro Korn to lead the march, and visit the memorial for Payne. “They think we're dumbasses who don't know what's happening, but we're very informed on the case and the investigation.”
For Silva, calling for justice in Payne's death is more personal. In 2017, Silva's nine-year-old brother Jonathan Gabriel was killed after getting hit by a car after the two got off of a bus. Silva was in a coma for four days following the accident, and fractured multiple bones. Amid tears, Silva recounted how the case was ultimately thrown out, and how the driver faced no consequences for the accident.
“He took my brother away from me, and now he's just living his life,” Silva says. “Seeing that man free has motivated me to fight for Liam's case. I just want to know exactly what happened.”
One of the march attendees, Karli Reyes, got to meet Payne a few weeks before he died, and carries a laminated autograph he gave her in her wallet. She also got a tattoo that she says Payne drew for her in his honor. She plans to come to future gatherings in support of the cause.
“His music helped me when I needed him most,” Reyes says. “This march helps me grieve. If justice comes, I'll be able to find peace. The way he left us was so painful and I think this helps me get through the pain.”
Earlier in the week, a separate group of about a dozen fans visited the prosecutor's office in Buenos Aires, as lawyers and prosecutors walked in and out of the building. The group, organized by a fan named Luana Bustamante, 26, held two or three rallies outside to show the prosecutor and judge that “we're following the case closely.”
March organizers Valentina Loredanna Bracho, Jennifer Melian, and Alex Silva lead a change at Plaza Libertad in Buenos Aires
Segismundo Trivero/Rolling Stone Argentina
“I want this case to advance and that it doesn't stay halted like so many other cases in Argentina. I want there to be real justice and for the truth to come out,” says Bustamante. “Justice for me means finding peace: I want the people involved to face time in jail and that there be no corruption.”
Organizers for both the Saturday march and the rally the week before have taken it upon themselves to keep the memorial in front of CasaSur clean and protected. They say the hotel has generally allowed the fans to mourn in the space, but many worry they'll want to get rid of the posters and messages written to Payne by the tree flanking the hotel, which has served as a memorial spot.
“We want to be his voice now that he's gone,” says Aldana Azmar, 22, one of the fans tasked with cleaning the area around the memorial. “This has become a safe space for us to support each other.”
Payne's Buenos Aires fans have also made several group chats where they organize and split tasks — and costs — related to maintaining the memorial, raising more than $500 for its upkeep since the day Payne died. “We take care of that tree as if it were him,” adds Bustamante, who ultimately hopes to convince the city of Buenos Aires (and the CasaSur hotel) to place a plaque there in tribute to Payne.
On Monday, fans also launched a fundraiser and a non-perishable food drive for a local church to commemorate the two-month anniversary of his death. They want the charitable approach to remind people of Payne's ties to charity, specifically during Covid, when he funded more than 360,000 meals for numerous English food banks.
“I'm going to remember him as an angel, doing charity, being nice to us, and showing that he loved us,” says Bracho.
Later this week, the five people charged in his death will face interrogations by the city's justice department during multiple hearings scheduled this week.
Regardless of what happens in court, Payne's fans want the world to know that they will be standing guard — and they plan to keep hosting rallies until they hear the truth about what led to his death.
“We're going to keep doing this until we don't need to do it anymore,” says Melian.
