The campaign to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina’s capitol grounds dragged on into the night, with the House of Representatives refusing to adjourn after 12 hours of debate.

The chamber voted 111-3 to keep going as the clock moved toward midnight during a marathon session on Wednesday to decide the future of a banner that symbolises slavery and racism for many, but Southern heritage for others.

Tempers began to fray as Republicans launched dozens of amendments seeking to soften the impact of a proposed law to move the flag to a museum.

Nikki Haley: 'I could not look my kids in the face and justify that flag' Read more

South Carolina legislators were stuck debating whether flowers should be planted where the flagpole bearing a Confederate flag stands at the state house in Columbia as citizens waited for the vote on whether the flag would be removed from the grounds.

The push to take down the flag, which represents the region that seceded from the US in 1861 in defense of slavery, intensified after nine black churchgoers were gunned down in Charleston last month. The alleged gunman, 21-year-old Dylann Roof, is believed to have supported white supremacy and posed in many photos next to the flag.

The state senate voted 37-3 on Tuesday in favor of a bill that would have the flag taken down from the 30ft pole on the capitol grounds where it currently flies, but this must pass in both chambers by a two-thirds vote before it can head to the office of Governor Nikki Haley, who supports taking down the flag.

It was unclear on Wednesday afternoon whether house members would be able to vote on the bill because of the 54-point list of amendments added to the bill just before the session began.

Republican representative Michael Pitts proposed dozens of flag-related amendments ahead of the debate, including one that would have the American flag fly upside down from the top of the state house dome and several others that called for the removal of other monuments from the capitol. He told reporters that he would work to bring the debate to a “grinding halt” until legislators reached a decision that would continue to honor his Confederate army ancestors.

Pitts began his first of several turns at the podium by remembering Clementa Pinckney, a state senator who was killed in the Charleston church shooting. He then went on to tout his own Native American heritage. “My bald head wouldn’t imply that but my high cheekbones and dark coloring would,” Pitts said.

His amendment to move the flag to a bronze case next to the existing memorial was struck down. As was his amendment to have yellow jasmine, the state flower, planted where the pole is currently placed once the flag is taken down.

Protesters have gathered outside the capitol all week during the debate, which has led to increased law enforcement presence at the state capitol. The South Carolina law enforcement division chief, Mark A Keel, said that “a number of threatening communications” were sent to members of the South Carolina legislature about the Confederate flag issue.

“Legislators on both sides of the issue have received communications that include death threats,” Keel said. “That’s not free speech; it’s illegal to threaten to kill or injure a public official or their immediate family.”

The flag has always been a divisive symbol in the south and after the shooting in Charleston last month, the push to have it taken off the capitol grounds intensified. Wednesday’s session began an hour late, but when it finally came time to debate the Confederate flag bills, a group of legislators stood behind the podium to remember the victims.

While the South Carolina state house has been the centerpiece of the battle to remove the flag, across the south, city, county and state governments are addressing concerns about the controversial symbol.

In Tennessee, Nashville’s metro council requested that the state plant vegetation that would block the view of a privately owned statue commemorating the Confederate army general Nathan Bedford Forrest that is backed by Confederate flags. The statue was designed and erected by one of the attorneys hired by James Earl Ray after he was convicted of killing Martin Luther King Jr.

The city council of Mobile, Alabama, on Tuesday voted to remove the Confederate flag from its official seal.

But in Florida’s Marion county, a commission voted to put the flag back up, weeks after an administrator had it taken down.

Reuters contributed to this report

