About 70,000 people joined a grand parade across Selma, Alabama Bridge last Sunday to commemorate the 1965 "Bloody Sunday" march, an event which marked a turning point in the United States civil rights movement.

As people walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge, they carried signs, cheered and sang "We Shall Overcome."

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The festive mood is in contrast to the police violence that characterized the original march 50 years ago.

"Bloody Sunday" recalls the incident in Alabama on March 7, 1965, wherein white state troopers and police had beaten up about 600 peaceful civil rights activists.

The law enforcers had used batons and sprayed tear gas on the protesters.

Last Sunday, the activists preferred to remember the event through a celebration, instead of marking it with a protest.

One woman said, "It's very crowded but at the same time. It's fun. It's really great to see everybody coming together. All races. All people".

Among the crowd were demonstrators who took part in the 1965 march as well as groups who are seeking immigration and gay rights.

The "Bloody Sunday" anniversary comes at a time when there is tension across the United States over how law enforcement agencies treat the minorities, especially the Black communities.

President Barack Obama visited Selma on Saturday.

In his message, he said the work of the civil rights movement is already advanced yet unfinished in the face of the current racial conflicts.

"Fifty years from Bloody Sunday, our march is not yet finished, but we're getting closer," said the first black president of the United States.

U.S. Representative John Lewis was among those who led the march across Selma Bridge half a century ago.

He fell down after being attacked by a state trooper.

In an interview, Lewis describes how he remembers Selma, "that's where some of us gave little blood and where some of us almost died."

"When I go back, I remember the bridge. For me, it is almost a sacred place," Lewis said.

TagsBloody Sunday, civil rights, selma