Loading "Lingering violence is damaging the foundation of our society" she said. Police, citizens and reporters have been injured and chaotic scenes at the airport had left "visitors wondering if our city is still a safe place for travel". She said attacks on the Chinese flag in particular had "put Hong Kong in a highly vulnerable and dangerous place". This appeared to be a veiled reference to Beijing's ability to intervene under emergency laws with troops to restore order. But Lam has not agreed to hold an independent inquiry into police conduct – a second major protest demand. She instead moved to boost an existing police oversight body with two new appointments including Helen Yu, a founder of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption. An international expert panel would also assist its work and include Australian Michael Adams, chief commissioner of the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission.

Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video Around 40 conservative politicians and Hong Kong members of Beijing’s National People’s Congress arrived at Government House ahead of the meeting with Lam. Opposition politicians wrote on social media that a formal withdrawal of the bill – so many months after it was first demanded – would be unlikely to satisfy protesters. The move to withdraw the bill follows 13 weeks of increasingly violent protests where petrol bombs were thrown during clashes with police.

Despite a police ban on protests tens of thousands of people including families and the elderly marched on Saturday, singing religious hymns. Loading University students went on strike on Monday and riot police made sweeps of trains stations on Tuesday looking for protesters. Amnesty International said an independent inquiry into police use of force was vital. Man-Kei Tam, director of Amnesty International Hong Kong, said: "While the formal withdrawal of this dangerous bill, at long last, is welcome, this announcement cannot change the fact that the Hong Kong authorities have chosen to suppress protests in a grossly unlawful way that has seriously damaged the people’s trust and sense of legitimacy of the government. Occupy leader Benny Tai said there needed to be genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong, while activist Joshua Wong wrote ahead of any announcement: "Too little and too late now – Carrie Lam's response comes after 7 lives sacrificed, more than 1200 protesters arrested, in which many are mistreated in police station."

Activist Johnson Yeung wrote on Twitter that Hong Kong people had originally opposed the extradition bill because they feared "arbitrary arrest, torture and injustice in mainland China". "Three months later, we face these threats in Hong Kong," he said. "Carrie Lam thinks she can calm the movement by withdrawing the bill?" Lam had been embarrassed on Monday by the leak of an audio recording in which she told business people at a private meeting that she would resign if she could, fuelling speculation that Beijing was behind her hardline stance of not ceding to any of the protesters' demands. Lam also said in the private meeting she had created "unforgivable havoc" by pushing for the extradition bill. Two million people took to the streets in June to oppose the bill in a series of peaceful marches. The bill would have allowed a Hong Kong person accused of a crime in China to be extradited to face the communist legal system.