Hong Kong to withdraw extradition bill: Report

Protest-hit Hong Kong is expected to withdraw proposed amendments to a controversial extradition bill, partially meeting a major demand of continued protests in the semi-autonomous region, a media report claimed on Wednesday. 

“Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is set to formally withdraw on Wednesday afternoon the much-despised extradition bill that sparked the nearly three-month-long protest crisis now roiling the city,” the South China Morning Post reported. 

The region has been rocked by massive protests since early June after the Lam government proposed changes to the extradition law which would legalize extraditing even suspects to mainland China. 

The protesters had given Lam five demands, including full withdrawal of the extradition bill; an independent commission to probe alleged police brutality; retracting protesters being branded "rioters"; amnesty for arrested protesters, and dual universal suffrage both for the Legislative Council and the chief executive. 

Earlier this summer the reading of the controversial bill was suspended for an indefinite period.