Hahn said the House of Representatives this week approved measures to “remove the Confederate battle flag and refrain from selling it at our National Parks and federal cemeteries”.
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The crowd of thousands chanted “USA” and “hey, hey, hey, goodbye” as the flag was lowered by an honour guard of South Carolina troopers. “It was such a moving moment to see that flag come down”.
Ms Haley, who initiated the bold move, in the aftermath of the tragic shooting of several black people inside a church last month by a white supremacist, was hailed nationally for this effort.
The white man charged in the killings, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, appeared in photographs posing with a Confederate flag that surfaced on a website bearing a racist manifesto.
She sat down with us to talk about the removal of the Confederate flag and how we got to that point. Haley signed the bill in a joyous ceremony at the Statehouse on Thursday afternoon.
The hundreds who gathered to watch and cheer were joined by dozens people carrying Confederate flags, but the ceremony was a peaceful affair of competing demonstrations.
Haley did not answer questions, but earlier Friday on NBC’s “Today” show, she said: “No one should ever drive by the Statehouse and feel pain”. But the statehouse – that’s an area that belongs to everyone.
Though some claim it as a symbol of Southern pride and heritage, it became a nationwide lightning conductor for outrage following the church shooting.
State lawmakers joined her. They voted this week to banish the banner despite objections from some legislators who argued the flag and other symbols of the Confederacy did not represent that hate demonstrated by the accused shooter. “That is why that flag is coming down”.
The flag was first flown over the state’s Capitol dome in 1961, celebrating the hundredth anniversary of the Civil War.
The emblem, which features a star-filled blue cross set against a red background, was lowered from outside the legislature on Friday after a renewed fight by civil rights campaigners.
During an emotional ceremony and amid popular cheers, the Confederate battle flag was brought down from a 30-foot flagpole that sits on the grounds of the Statehouse in Columbia, S.C.
The banner has been flying alongside a Confederate war memorial outside the state house since 2000. “I like the stars and the stars and stripes on it and that’s all it is to me”, said one camper, whose flag was visible through the back window of their trailer.
On Friday, after the flag was removed for good, President Obama tweeted, “South Carolina taking down the confederate flag – a signal of goodwill and healing, and a meaningful step towards a better future”.
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The flag came down 23 days after the massacre of state Sen.
