Confederate flag 'symbol of white supremacy'

Should the Confederate flag be banned from government buildings in the US?

That question is being asked by some of those protesting after last week’s Charleston church shooting.

"It’s an illegitimate symbol," said Prof Sarah Churchwell, professor of American studies at the University of East Anglia.

“It is a symbol of white supremacy from start to finish.”

But Dr Tom Sebrell, an expert in the US Civil War and a lecturer at the University of Westminster, said that when the Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina state capitol, "it resulted in a lot more people flying the flag privately in their yards".