Alabama this weekend is marking the 60th anniversary of a key event in the civil rights movement, when voting rights marchers were attacked in Selma on March 7, 1965.

Hundreds of people rallied at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, to mark 60 years since " Bloody Sunday ," when authorities beat peaceful protesters who were marching against race discrimination in voting.

The population of the small historic town of Selma, Alabama swells once a year as people from around the nation flock to its downtown, its churches before finally gathering for the crescendo event — walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.