Hong Kong Drops Controversial Extradition Bill That Ignited Months Of Protests

Hong Kong has officially withdrawn the extradition bill that ignited months of violent protests.

On Wednesday, Security John Lee and other Hong Kong authorities announced that due to “conflicts in the city,” the controversial extradition bill will be dropped. This all comes after Chan Tong-kai, the Hong Kong man wanted for murder in Taiwan who could not be sent to face charges because there was no extradition agreement, was released from prison.

The bill was suggested back in June, which prompted fear in residents that they would be at risk of being sent to mainland China where they would face the state’s Communist Party-controlled courts. Tong-kai, 20, was imprisoned for money laundering and is suspected of killing his pregnant girlfriend while on vacation in Taiwan last year. But Demonstrators believed this was Hong Kong’s attempt by China to start taking away democratic freedoms the city was promised when the former British colony was turned over to China in 1997.

For five months straight, millions took to the street in protest of anti-democracy. Tong-kai promised to return to Taiwan to face his murder charges.