Dylann Roof, a 21-year-old white man charged with murdering nine black people at a shooting in a South Carolina church, had posed online with a Confederate flag.

The Loyal White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan say they will continue to prepare for their Saturday rally at the South Carolina State House despite the removal of the Confederate flag from the capitol’s grounds.

Gov. Nikki Haley asks for people to avoid the rally.

The city enacted the ordinance, which will last for 30 days, in part because groups who plan to demonstrate at the Statehouse- including the Ku Klux Klan and Black Educators for Justice- had indicated they would be carrying weapons.

South Carolina lawmakers said they will not consider removing any other public memorials.

A call to the Loyal White Knights was not returned, but an automated message at the chapter’s listed phone number said its members will be “standing up for our Confederate history and all the Southerners who fought and died against federal tyranny”.

“Our government is trying to erase white culture and our heritage right out of the pages of our history books”, the recording says.

But not all flag supporters stand together.

Sadly though, before I could get too excited, I also read The Washington Post’s report that the Confederate flag flew during the NASCAR races at Florida Daytona worldwide Speedway. A leader of the group has been quoted as saying members will not be wearing robes or hoods at today’s event.

Meanwhile, Black Educators for Justice – a Jacksonville, Fla., organization run by James Evans Muhammad, a former director of the New Black Panther Party – expects to have 300 people protesting from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday, according to The State.

He said his group is co-sponsoring Saturday’s event along with Black Lawyers for Justice and Black Agenda United.

At home, GAA president Aogán Ó Fearghail said he is not comfortable with Cork fans flying the flag. “Racism does not stop just because a flag is removed”.

“It is an illusion of progress”, he told the State newspaper in Columbia. “They have a First Amendment right as long as the law is not broken and people aren’t harmed”.