Confederate Flag returns to State House temporarily Sunday

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) – The Confederate flag has made a temporary return to the front lawn of the South Carolina Statehouse as part of a rally.

Several hundred people attended a rally Sunday by the South Carolina Secessionist Party at the Capitol complex in Columbia.

The event marks the one-year anniversary of the day the Confederate battle flag was furled and sent to a museum.

Using a portable base, the party raised the battle flag on the same spot where it flew on a 30-foot pole beside the Confederate Soldiers Monument. The crowd included people holding their own flags and people clad in Civil War uniforms to represent a Confederate Memorial Honor Guard.

Dozens of counter-protesters showed up, but the groups were kept separate by barriers and law enforcement officers.