In Charleston, South Carolina, mourners paid respects to the nine black worshippers who were gunned down by a white supremacist inside the historic Emanuel AME Church last week. A racially diverse gathering of thousands formed a chain across the Ravenel Bridge in a display of solidarity with the victims. Special remembrances were held in honor of slain Rev. Clementa Pinckney, the church’s pastor and a South Carolina state senator. President Obama traveled to Charleston to deliver the eulogy for Pinckney, whom he knew personally.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina’s capitol, Columbia, clergy and political leaders held a rally calling for the Confederate flag to be removed from State House grounds. The Charleston shooting has ignited a nationwide debate over the Confederate flag, with a growing chorus calling for its removal from public spaces. Protesters pointed out that the accused gunman Dylann Roof had posed with the flag in online photos. They said the flag should be taken down out of respect for his victims. South Carolina lawmakers said they would debate removing the flag later this summer.