South Carolina governor calls for Confederate flag removal

South Carolina’s governor has called for the Confederate flag to be taken down – less than a week after a gunman’s rampage at a state church.

Nikki Haley asked lawmakers on Monday (June 22) to remove the flag, which was a symbol of the pro-slavery south in the US civil war.

It comes after a white gunman allegedly shot dead nine black worshippers at an African-American church in Charleston last week.

“It’s time to move the flag from the capitol grounds,” Haley, a Republican, told reporters. “This is a moment in which we can say that the flag, while an integral part of our past, does not represent the future of our great state.”