Bloody Sunday: No Pre-March Rally – Why?
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The march follows a weekend when organizers say about 80,000 people filled the streets of Selma. While the events went fairly smoothly. There were still some obstacles in the way. The biggest question came during Bloody Sunday — the rally before the official march was expected to start at 2:30 p.m. But never happened. So why? It’s a different Selma Monday morning — with trash being collected, barriers cleared. This is what Selma looked like over the weekend. But on Bloody Sunday, the planned rally didn’t happen on the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, after Brown Chapel AME’s church service ran two hours longer than expected. Spectators like Willie Griffen say they were confused. “Perhaps the people that scheduled it, the people who were in charged of doing this had a different idea,” Said Selma resident, Willie Griffen. He and this crowd waited for national and local dignitaries to speak at the planned rally. Our cameras saw state troopers trying to clear the bridge to make room for speakers, but their efforts were unsuccessful. Organizer and State Senator, Hank Sanders, says the bridge was supposed to be closed off beforehand. “It wasn’t closed off so people came up on the bridge and stopped. They wouldn’t moved. They stayed on the bridge and it was so many people they couldn’t find a way to go ahead and have the usual kind of mass rally,” Said Sanders. He also says it wasn’t a bad problem to have. “This was a once in a lifetime experience,” Said Sanders. Selma Police Chief William Riley says it could have been worse on the public safety side of things. “I can only think of two incidents that we had that rose to the level that we really had to deal with anyone an individual and that was an incident on a Friday and an incident on Saturday,” Said Chief Riley. Riley says those incidents involved disorderly conduct. He plans to meet with state agencies to see how they can improve and change planning for next year’s event.
