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Novelty Supplier In Mass. Pulls Confederate Flag Off Market

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) — A novelty item supplier headquartered in southeastern Massachusetts is one of the latest retailers to remove the Confederate flag from its merchandise.

The Providence Journal reports that Rhode Island Novelty's battle flag product was no longer available on Amazon.com or at Walmart as of Wednesday.

The Fall River-based company's chief financial officer, James Conner, says the supplier on Tuesday had discontinued all sales of the flag before Amazon stopped selling it. He says the company felt it was appropriate to stop selling it.

Rhode Island Novelty's flag product drew criticism on Amazon.com. It also received attention from national media outlets in renewed debates about symbols of the Confederacy in the wake of the shooting deaths of nine people last week at a historic black church in Charleston, South Carolina.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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