America
Charleston church holds first service after massacre
Washington, June 22
Charleston's historic
Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church reopened its doors and held
its first service four days after a 21-year-old white man gunned down
nine black church members in one of the worst tragedies of its kind at a
US religious institution.
"A lot of folks expected us to do
something strange and to break out in a riot. Well, they just don't know
us," Reverend Norvel Goff said, on Sunday, before hundreds of
worshippers.
"We are a people of faith."
One of the
victims of the massacre was the church's pastor, Rev. and Democratic
state senator Clementa Pinckney, whose seat in the church was draped in
black.
At 10 a.m. church bells all over Charleston, known as
South Carolina's "Holy City" for its heavy concentration of churches,
peeled to recall the nine victims.
The number of worshippers exceeded its maximum capacity of 1,200.
In recent days, the church and vicinity have seen many signs of local and national support for the families of the slain.
Heavy
police personnel were deployed in and around the church, and people
were not allowed to bring backpacks inside and had their handbags and
fannypacks searched by officers.
Attending the service was
Republican South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, presidential hopeful
Rick Santorum, conservative state senator Tim Scott and Democratic
Congresswoman for California Maxine Waters.
Dylann Roof entered
the church on Wednesday and opened fire on a group of people inside,
including several who had just participated in a bible study session,
with the declared aim of sparking a "race war".
He was later apprehended by police and is currently in custody.
After
the massacre, President Barack Obama called upon the country to
urgently change its attitude on allowing people to own handguns and
other weapons.