Southern Secessionists Rally on Eve of Civil Rights March

A group that wants the South to secede from the Union staged a Confederate flag-waving rally Saturday, a day before President Clinton was to lead marchers across a Selma bridge to mark the 35th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday” in the civil rights movement.

Confederate flags and Rebel yells rose from the steps of Alabama’s capitol at the Old South rally. Kilt-wearing bagpipers playing “Dixie” joined Civil War reenactors dressed in gray and butterscotch uniforms to lead a parade to the building, where Jefferson Davis took the oath as president of the Confederacy in 1861.

Afterward, members of the Southern nationalist organization that staged the rally signed a “Declaration of Southern Cultural Independence,” described as the first step in what they hope is a second secession by the South.

“The national culture of the United States is violent and profane, coarse and rude, cynical and deviant, and repugnant to the Southern people and to every people with authentic Christian sensibilities,” read the document.

“Independence now!” chanted the virtually all-white crowd. Hundreds signed petitions demanding that the Rebel flag with its familiar X-design be returned to the capitol dome, where it used to fly.

Montgomery police estimated the crowd at 2,500. Officers arrested four protesters who tried to enter the barricaded area reserved for Confederate backers, and police removed two women who drew jeers for carrying American flags.

“We want to stay in the Union. We don’t want racism and hate,” said Anne Torma of Birmingham, a U.S. flag draped over her shoulder.

As speakers criticized groups that claim the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism and hate, a congressional delegation led by Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) toured civil rights sites in Birmingham and Montgomery.

Lewis’ group is to join Clinton today in Selma for the 35th anniversary of “Bloody Sunday,” the day scores of black voting rights demonstrators were beaten by state troopers and sheriff’s officers as they crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge on a march to Montgomery.

Led by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., marchers returned two weeks later and began the weeklong Selma-to-Montgomery march, which helped spur quick passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

At the League of the South rally, a blue banner emblazoned with “No King but Jesus” provided the backdrop for more than three hours of Civil War-era music and speeches against moral decay, the media and the federal government.