Greenville, S.C. ? Shouting “Don’t stop, don’t shop, till the flag drops,” about 125 NAACP protesters marched to the site of the NCAA tournament Saturday in a fight to remove the Confederate flag from South Carolina.

As the group headed to the steps of the Bi-Lo Center, about 20 flag supporters waved banners, shouted and yelled across the street.

“The first symbol of terrorism came to America years ago and it is behind you,” NAACP national field director Nelson Rivers said of the Confederate group as Duke played Notre Dame inside the arena.

Protesters fanned out around the building to hand out leaflets and fliers after a brief rally on the arena’s steps.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has had a tourism boycott against South Carolina since Jan. 1, 2000, demanding the flag be removed from the Statehouse Dome. The group maintained its protest after state lawmakers agreed to put the flag on a pole at the Confederate Soldiers’ monument six months later.

“We won’t stop this month, we won’t stop this summer, we won’t stop this year,” Rivers said.

The NAACP and others asked the NCAA two years ago to remove these games. But the NCAA’s executive committee chose to keep them and placed a two-year hold on awarding championships to states like South Carolina.

Across the street, Roger Stewart, the state coordinator for the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, carried a small sign that said “Welcome to S.C.” He led several Confederate flag backers on their own morning march to the Bi-Lo.

“People understand that what we’re out here trying to make the people not pay attention to economic terrorism like the NAACP is trying to do,” he Stewart, whose group lists David Duke as its national president.

The NCAA’s Jim Marchiony said the protesters did not detract from Greenville’s regional.

“They had great plans from the very beginning on how they were going to handle it,” Marchiony said. “We agreed that we needed to give the NAACP and anyone else the freedom to express themselves. They certainly helped to keep the situation from becoming volatile.”