"It won't be there in a year," one worker told this reporter in February. At noon on July 1 the racist symbol that had flown above the state house since 1962 came down.

A short time later, another version of the battle flag was raised on a pole at the Confederate soldiers monument, directly in front of the state house on a busy downtown street. This was the "compromise" promoted by the governor and adopted by the state legislature earlier this year, as pressure mounted, including from a tourism boycott called by the NAACP.

"They're just putting it closer to my face," declared Leon Harper, who works in a restaurant near the state house. "It should be in a museum." Harper was one of hundreds of people who rallied on the south steps of the capitol before noon to protest the fact the flag will still fly on the state house grounds. That action was called by the Assembly of African-American Leaders.

Hundreds more took part in a silent march through downtown called by the NAACP earlier in the morning. The civil rights group has decided to continue its tourism boycott until the flag is removed entirely from the state government center.

A similar number of people rallied in support of the flag throughout the morning on the north side of the capitol, where the Confederate soldiers monument is located. At noon, a couple dozen of them marched around the dome provocatively chanting, "Off the dome and in your face."

As the pro-flag rally continued, clumps of anti-flag protesters mingled with those waving Confederate flags--some quietly observing and others blowing whistles and responding to the rightists.

Andrew Hughes, a University of South Carolina student who came to see the flag come down, expressed the view of many protesters when he stated, "It's a first step, but it shouldn't be anywhere on the state house grounds."  
 
 
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