Protesters at Parliament hold placards saying "refugees are not migrants".

Protesters gathered outside Parliament on Friday afternoon, saying Prime Minister John Key should "do unto others as we did to your mother" and take in refugees fleeing war-torn Syria.

Demonstrators recalled that Key's mother, Ruth Key, was a Jewish refugee who fled Austria after it was annexed by Nazi Germany.

She escaped the Holocaust by fleeing to Britain and later travelled to New Zealand.

Meghan Hughes Milli and Flo McNeill from Paekakariki came to Parliament on Friday with a message for the Prime Minister to raise the refugee quota.

The gathering was organised with less than 24 hours notice via a Facebook page, and more than 100 people turned up to call on the Government to increase New Zealand's refugee quota.

Organiser Meghan Hughes said each of the people who made it to the event represented hundreds, if not thousands, of New Zealanders who wanted to raise the quota.

Pressure has built on the Government this week to lift New Zealand's annual intake of refugees from 750, where it has sat since 1987.

Aimee Gulliver More than 100 people gathered at Parliament to call for an increase in New Zealand's annual intake of refugees.

Key had previously ruled out changing the quota before a scheduled review due to take place in 2016, but on Thursday softened that stance.

Calls have come from every party in Parliament except National to raise the quota, or take an emergency intake of refugees in response to the humanitarian crisis largely as a result of the Syrian civil war.

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The United Nations has said the global refugee crisis is the worst it has been since World War II, with more than 50 million people displaced as a result of war or persecution.

The crowd chanted "say it loud and say it clear, refugees are welcome here".

A 15-year-old high school student told the crowd she had skipped class to attend, and was immensely grateful that the biggest concern in her life was passing NCEA level 1.

Other people her age had to worry about food, water, and their safety and security.

She called on the Government to raise the quota for the next generation, to allow young people all over the world to have passing their exams as their main concern.