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| Confederate flags found at US black church in Atlanta | Confederate flags found at US black church in Atlanta |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| US police are investigating after four Confederate flags were found on the grounds of a church near the Martin Luther King Jr Center in Atlanta. | US police are investigating after four Confederate flags were found on the grounds of a church near the Martin Luther King Jr Center in Atlanta. |
| The flags, which were placed neatly on the ground, were discovered at about 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday by a maintenance worker. | The flags, which were placed neatly on the ground, were discovered at about 06:00 local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday by a maintenance worker. |
| No eyewitnesses have come forward yet but security camera footage of the area was being reviewed, police said. | No eyewitnesses have come forward yet but security camera footage of the area was being reviewed, police said. |
| The flag is very divisive in the US and seen as a symbol of slavery by critics. | |
| Staff were disturbed when they came across the flags at the Ebenezer Baptist Church, according to the Reverend Shannon Jones. | |
| "Our groundsmen were so upset, they took pictures and then they moved them," she told reporters. | |
| She said the church has been holding a conference on the role on black churches in social justice issues this week. | |
| Police said a security guard had seen a suspicious vehicle parked near the church on Wednesday night, but it is unclear if it was involved. | |
| Mr King once preached at the church in Georgia's capital. | |
| The Confederate flag the battle emblem of the southern states in the US Civil War, and its supporters today say it is an important part of southern heritage. | |
| The backlash against it grew when nine black people were shot dead at a South Carolina church in June. The man charged with the killings, Dylann Roof, was pictured holding the flag. |