The controversial Hong Kong extradition bill which sparked five months of street protests was withdrawn by the territory’s authorities yesterday.

But there were no signs that the withdrawal will dampen the protests, which have morphed into a wider campaign for democratic change.

Secretary for Security John Lee told the legislature in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory that the government had taken the action because the bill had resulted in “conflicts in society”.

“I formally announce the withdrawal of the bill,” Lee told lawmakers. Pro-democracy representatives immediately tried to question him, but he refused to respond.

The rallies have snowballed into the city’s biggest political crisis in decades, expanding to demands for universal suffrage and an investigation into allegations of police abuses.

Yesterday, the long-expected scrapping of the bill was overshadowed by the drama surrounding the release from a Hong Kong prison of the murder suspect at the heart of the extradition case controversy.

Chan Tong-kai, who was serving a separate sentence for money laundering, told reporters that he wished to turn himself in to authorities in Taiwan, where he’s wanted for killing his pregnant girlfriend, Poon Hiu-wing.

Taiwan announced on Tuesday that it was willing to send a delegation to bring Chan back to the self-ruled island for trial, but Hong Kong rejected the offer, saying that the suspect should be allowed to fly unaccompanied to turn himself in.

The controversy is rooted in the unwillingness of Hong Kong to recognise the legitimacy of the legal bodies in Taiwan, which communist leaders in Beijing consider a breakaway province.

China has refused all contact with the administration of Taiwan’s directly elected President Tsai Ing-wen.

That appears to have compelled Hong Kong to reject cooperation over Ms Tsai’s insistence on a “mutual legal assistance” deal with Hong Kong that would require their institutions to deal with each other on an equal basis.

Ms Tsai weighed in on the Chan case yesterday, saying there was no possibility of Chan simply catching a flight to Taipei. “There is only the matter of arrest and no question of simply turning oneself in,” she said.

Chan (20) returned to Hong Kong alone last year after traveling to Taipei on holiday with his 21-year-old girlfriend. Her body was found later in a suitcase dumped in a field.

“I am willing, for my impulsive actions and things I did wrong, to surrender myself, to return to Taiwan to face sentencing and stand trial,” Chan said outside prison.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam had repeatedly cited Chan’s case as justifying the proposed amendments to the extradition legislation, saying he could not be sent to the self-ruled island because there was no extradition agreement in place.

But the proposal stoked fears that residents of Hong Kong, which has kept its own courts since reverting from British to Chinese rule in 1997, would be put at risk of being sent into mainland China’s Communist Party-controlled judicial system.

Last night, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters formed a human chain at the British Consulate in Hong Kong to rally support for their cause from the city’s former colonial ruler.

The event was organised in support of a debate today in Britain’s Parliament on whether to offer British citizenship to Hong Kongers in light of the unrest that has gripped the city since early June.

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