After the bill passed a third and final vote in the South Carolina House of Representatives early Thursday morning, the Confederate battle flag will be removed from the grounds of the state capitol in Columbia. The measure, already approved by the state Senate, needs to be signed by Governor Nikki Haley.

She has promised to do so as soon as it reaches her desk.

Tempers frayed as the debate went on for more than 13 hours before finally passing by a margin of 94 to 20.

"If you cannot be moved by the suffering of the people of Charleston you don't have a heart," said Republican Representative Jenny Anderson Horne, frustrated at some of her own party members who remained stubborn on the issue.

The Confederate battle flag, flown alongside the marching armies of the secessionist southern states during the American Civil War in the 1860s, has been seen as a symbol of racism and slavery to some, and of Southern heritage to others.

In her impassioned speech, Representative Horne, reminded her colleagues that even though she was a "descendant of [Confederate President] Jefferson Davis," she had "heard enough about heritage," painting it as a self-important and callous response to the suffering of the people who see it as a "symbol of hate."

White supremacist suspected of killing black churchgoers

The controversy surrounding the flag gained renewed traction following the deaths of nine black churchgoers in Charleston, who were gunned down while attending Bible study on June 17. One of the deceased was Reverend Clementa Pinckney, himself a South Carolina state senator.

Suspect Dylann Roof was known to be a white supremacist, and pictures of him posing with the Confederate battle flag were found on a website showcasing a racist manifesto.

The flag briefly came down on June 27 when African-American activist Bree Newsome scaled the flagpole and removed it herself. Newsome was arrested and the flag went back up on the same day.

After Governor Haley signs the new bill, the flag will be moved to a museum elsewhere in Columbia.

Haley said early Thursday that the measure "truly brings us all together as we continue to heal, as one people and one state."

es/jil (AP, Reuters)