Charleston, United States---South Carolina's Republican governor Nikki Haley on Monday led bipartisan calls for the removal of the controversial Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol, after last week's deadly shooting at a black church in Charleston.
The contentious flying of the Civil War battle flag -- seen by some as a symbol of lingering racist sentiment in the American South, but by others as a hallmark of Southern pride and heritage -- has returned to the spotlight since the massacre.
A website apparently created by accused gunman Dylann Roof, 21, includes a manifesto embracing white supremacy and photographs of him holding a Confederate flag and a handgun.
Roof has been charged with nine murders over the June 17 shooting rampage at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston during a Bible study class.
One of the church massacre victims was Reverend Clementa Pinckney, who was a Democratic state senator. The White House said Monday that President Barack Obama would deliver a eulogy for Pinckney in Charleston on Friday.
"Today we are here in a moment of unity in our state, without ill will, to say it's time to move the flag from the capitol grounds," Haley told a press conference, flanked by a host of political leaders from both parties.
"One hundred and fifty years after the end of the Civil War, the time has come," she said, adding the flag "causes pain for so many."
The flag's 24/7 presence -- alongside a memorial to Confederate war dead on the lush green State House lawn -- has been a point of friction in South Carolina for years.
But after the killings at "Mother Emanuel," the flag -- unlike the US and state flags -- was not lowered to half-staff, sparking outrage and a revived movement to see it removed from the state house.
AFP
