Old SA flag removed from New Zealand biltong and wors shop

The Biltong and Wors Shop's front window is now dominated by a New Zealand flag.

The owner of the shop, on a busy street in Tawa, New Zealand, replaced the old South African flag following an online petition calling for the "apartheid symbol" to be removed.

New Zealand lawyer Richard Stephen told TimesLIVE on Friday that the shop owner had contacted him via social media to inform him that the old South African flag had been removed.

He immediately drove past the shop for confirmation.

"The old flag has been replaced by a New Zealand flag. I have declared victory and ended the petition," Stephen said.

The petition was started on Monday following Friday's terror attack in Christchurch, which claimed 50 lives in two mosques.

"In light of recent events, it is even more important to call out and challenge racism and white supremacy," Stephen said.

Stephen launched the petition because the "flag has become a symbol of the brutal apartheid regime, which oppressed millions".

More than 1,400 people had signed the petition before he announced that the flag had been removed.

Stephen said he felt great that the flag had been removed.

"I feel encouraged that even though we are in a small suburb in a country far away, so many people agreed that this was important and were willing to oppose the display of racist symbols," he said.

The owner is yet to respond to queries from TimesLIVE.