COLUMBIA TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) - About 30 people have gathered in a southern Michigan community to commemorate Confederate Flag Day.

The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports that they carried various versions of the flag Saturday in a carpool lot in Columbia Township, southwest of Detroit.

Organizer Steve Panther and others told the newspaper the rally was meant to celebrate their Southern state roots.

A similar rally was held Saturday at Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Supporters and counter-demonstrators traded insults.

The public display of Confederate symbols has been widely debated since the slayings of nine black worshippers at a Charleston, South Carolina, church in June. The white suspect had previously posed for online photos with the rebel flag, which has a red field with a blue X dotted by 13 white stars.

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