COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The latest on rallies, marches and speeches honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. (all times local):

11:35 a.m.

About 1,000 people have gathered under chilly and sunny skies at South Carolina's Statehouse to remember slain civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

For the past 17 years, civil rights leaders have used the holiday to argue for the removal of the Confederate flag from the Statehouse, but this summer, the flag was taken down after nine black church members were killed in Charleston.

There was more security this year than most other years because the three Democratic presidential candidates are attending.

The keynote speaker at a prayer breakfast briefly acknowledged the removal of the Confederate flag from the state's Capitol before talking at length about reducing the number of people in prisons.

Bishop James Walker opened the state NAACP's commemoration of the slain civil rights leader by thanking the group for putting pressure on state leaders since 2000 to remove the rebel banner from the Statehouse.

The NAACP then marched five blocks to the Statehouse with candidates Martin O'Malley and Bernie Sanders up front.

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