The roar of the traffic just yards away and the lack of microphones made it hard to hear the statements and comments from high-profile columnists such as David Aaronovitch of the Independent and Jonathan Freedland of the Guardian. But the message was clear: The 58 Chinese people who died should not just "disappear into nothingness", in the words of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a columnist for the Independent, who arranged the event.

Kiki Markham, the actor, read out a poem by Adrian Mitchell, written especially for the occasion. "Let's take our brothers' and sisters' hands and make them welcome, as a family should," the poem said. After everyone made their remarks, 58 people were invited to put down a white lily for each of the victims.

Almost three weeks have gone since the victims suffocated to death in the back of a lorry, but at most only two bodies have been identified, according to Jabez Lam, who has been in touch with eight relatives of the victims.

Mr Lam criticised the Kent police and the Home Office for insisting that the relatives identify themselves as part of the identification process of the bodies. Mr Lam attacked the government for "its inhumane policy", which he said made relatives of the dead reluctant to come forward because of their own legal status.

Detectives trying to identify the bodies are to fly to China to take DNA samples from those who fear they have lost their loved ones. Four police officers and a forensic specialist have received permission from Beijing to travel in the next fortnight to the Fujian region where the dead are believed to have originated.

Kent police say they have provisionally identified 42 of the young victims. Only after taking mouth swabs from parents or next of kin and matching it to the DNA of the victims will a final identification be made.