By Associated Press
Selma, AL – Georgia Congressman John Lewis and the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton led more than 3,000 marchers across the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge in an annual ''Bloody Sunday'' remembrance.
The three civil rights leaders led the marchers from Brown Chapel AME Church, which was used as headquarters for the voting rights protests of 1965.
Sunday's march ended a three-day festival in Selma that commemorates the day in which 600 black activists were routed by Alabama state troopers on March 7th of 1965 as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery.
The protesters made it six blocks before mounted troopers attacked them with billy clubs, tear gas and bullwhips while white onlookers cheered. Lewis, a march organizer, was among those beaten that day and suffered a fractured skull.
Last year's march drew Democratic presidential contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, but they did not attend this year.
Clinton canceled a scheduled speech here a few days before the Bridge Crossing Jubilee, an organizer says.
Sam Walker, who has coordinated the event for several years, says Clinton's decision not to come to Selma may have upset her faithful followers but, he says, ''this is bigger than all of us.''
Saturday, Jackson visited the Civil Rights Memorial Center in Montgomery before going to Selma. He says this year's election is momentous because whites are voting for a black candidate and men are voting for a female candidate.
Says Jackson: ''God didn't punish us because of race ... and man shouldn't either.''
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)