Tears from Ramallah to India . . .

TEARS and tributes for Nelson Mandela — from London and New York to Beijing and The Hague — united the world in grief over the death of the statesman.

In London, hundreds of people queued patiently in the cold to write moving messages in the book of condolence at the South African embassy in Trafalgar Square — for years the site of anti-apartheid protests. The Mandela statue in London’s Parliament Square also attracted its fair share of mourners.

Cisca Vennard was there to pay her respects. “I grew up in a conservative Afrikaans family and he represented a completely different way of living. I wouldn’t have been able to do the things I’ve done if it wasn’t for him. I’m just so grateful for everything he has done for us,” she said, fighting back tears.

Gina Wilson said even London’s underground tube network, notorious for its unfriendly commuters, had become a “different place” in the wake of Mandela’s death.

“There was a girl on the tube with tears streaming down her face, and someone just reached over and gave her a tissue, saying ‘It’ll all be okay’. I have been blown away by how people have reacted,” she said.

The South African embassy at The Hague, Netherlands, had to call in the diplomatic police to help with crowd control as hundreds of people continued to gather to pay their respects to Mandela.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans penned a moving message: “It’s almost impossible to imagine the world without Madiba. But, then again, our world will never be without Madiba. Because he taught us that humanity in its purest form does exist in a person.

“Madiba was not only South Africa’s Tata. He became humanity’s Tata . . .”

Former New York mayor A Palestinian man holds a portrait of Mandela as he stands in front of Israeli soldiers during clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces following a weekly protest against Israeli occupation in the village of Bilin

It’s almost impossible to imagine the world without Madiba. But, then again, our world will never be without Madiba

Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that a new high school, the Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice, would open its doors next year on the campus that Mandela visited in Brooklyn in 1990. He invited New York’s 8.4 million residents to honour Mandela’s legacy by volunteering for community service this weekend.

Picture: REUTERS London, UK People pay homage at a statue of Mandela in Parliament Square, London

Picture: REUTERS Ramallah, West Bank

Picture: REUTERS Paris, France An image of Mandela is projected on the facade of the Paris town hall

Picture: REUTERS New York, US A man is reflected in a window outside the Apollo Theatre as the marquee displays a tribute to the late Nelson Mandela in the Harlem area of New York

Picture: REUTERS Puri, India Women walk past a sand sculpture paying tribute to Mandela. It was created by Indian sand artist Sudarshan Pattnaik at Puri, in the eastern Indian state of Odisha

Picture: REUTERS Karachi, Pakistan Children hold earthen lamps in a vigil for Mandela organised by the Aafia Movement in Karachi. Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist, was sentenced by a US judge in September 2010 to 86 years in prison after she was convicted of...