CHARLESTON: South Carolina’s Governor Nikki Haley is leading escalating 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 — has returned to the spotlight since the massacre.

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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. “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 yesterday, 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 adding momentum to see it removed from the state house. As calls built for the flag to come down, Walmart, the largest retailer in the country, announced it would remove all merchandise bearing the Confederate flag from its stores, saying such items had “improperly” found their way on to shelves. Numerous US retailers offer Confederate flag items online and the banner is seen emblazoned on t-shirts, caps and trucks throughout the south.