Confederate flag: Civil rights group NAACP ends boycott of South Carolina following removal of flag

The group's boycott began in 2000 amid debate surrounding the presence of the Confederate flag on state property

(AP Images)

A leading civil rights group in the US has announced it is ending their boycott of South Carolina, following the removal of the Confederate flag.

The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) passed a resolution yesterday at its national convention. The move marks an end to a fifteen year boycott of tourism and other economic activity in the state.

The boycott began in 2000 following debate surrounding the flying of the Confederate flag, which was flown from the statehouse dome before being moved to a flagpole on statehouse grounds.

On Thursday the flag was removed from South Carolina capitol grounds after a bill calling for its removal was signed by Republican Governor Nikki Haley.

The NAACP resolution said: “While the removal of the flag was clearly a victory for the NAACP and a defeat for promotion of hate, the NAACP clearly recognizes that there are still battles to be fought in other states and jurisdictions where emblems of hate and oppression continue to be celebrated.”

The Confederate flag has been the subject of fierce debate in light of fatal shootings in Charleston. Nine black people were killed by a white supremacist shooter at a church in South Carolina. The flag represents the area which seceded from the Union in the nineteenth century in defence of slavery and is seen by some as representing racist ideology in the present day.

US President Barack Obama has said that he believes the Confederate flag “belongs in a museum” rather than on public display.