On March 7, protesters from Selma and Marion engaged in a march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital in Montgomery, in response to a state trooper killing a demonstrator recently. John Lewis and Hosea Williams led the march while King was in Atlanta. The protesters crossed the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma where they encountered a blockade of state police and municipal law enforcement led by Major John Cloud who gave the order for the marchers to leave. When they didn't, Cloud gave the command to move forward. The troops attacked the protesters with clubs and tear gas as cheering white spectators looked on. As they fled, the demonstrators were being chased and beaten by police.