Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has once again stopped short of meeting demands to withdraw a controversial extradition bill that has sparked mass protests and the largest political crisis in the city in two decades.

In her first public appearance in a week, Ms Lam skirted calls to formally drop the suspended bill that would allow suspects to be sent to China to stand trial, or to launch an independent investigation into police use of force against protesters in mid-June. 

She also sought to address concerns that the government would attempt to resurrect the proposed law at a later date. “I reiterate here there is no such plan, the bill is dead,” she said at a press conference, adding that the government’s work on the legislation was a “total failure”.