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VIDEO: Confederate flag taken down in South Carolina – Metro US

VIDEO: Confederate flag taken down in South Carolina

The Confederate flag that used to fly over the ground of the South Carolina statehouse has been taken down.

The flag, which has flown over the capitol for about 50 years or so was taken down by Highway Patrol Honor Guard with a lot of pomp and circumstance.

RELATED:Gone Goodbye: South Carolina passes bill to removeConfederateflag

Meanwhile, throngs of people watched and cried for joy as the flag was slowly lowered and folded away.

The flag isn’t completely gone though, as it will remain on display in the South Carolina State Museum’s Confederate relic room.

The flag’s departure from state house grounds comes nearly a month after the deadly shooting at Emanuel AME Church in South Carolina, in which shooter Dylann Roof shot and killed nine members of the all black church.

RELATED: Major U.S. flag makers to stop making Confederate flags

Photos of Roof posing with the confederate flag launched a national debate about the flags presence on state and federal property, and in the culture of the American south.

Many opposed to the flag decried it as racist and a symbol of the Confederacy’s rebellion, while those in favor of it claimed it represented southern heritage.

South Carolina, which was the first state to seceed from the union, endured a lenghty 13-hour debate as to whether or not the flag should be removed from the state house grounds.

The bill to remove the flag was finally passed and Governor Nikki Haley signed it into Law.

Matt Lee is a Web producer for Metro New York. He writes about almost everything and anything. Talk to him (or yell at him) on Twitter so he doesn’t feel lonely@mattlee2669.