Friday, 5 September, 2003, 07:05 GMT 08:05 UK

Protesters said the proposed law would have curbed their freedoms

The Hong Kong government has withdrawn a controversial anti-subversion bill that sparked the territory's biggest political crisis in recent years. Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa said the government would not introduce a new version of the legislation until more public consultations had been held.

He said the government had no timetable for introducing the new version, nor did he spell out which aspects of the old bill would be reviewed.

Mr Tung's decision, which is certain to have been approved by his backers in Beijing, follows a split in his governing coalition which would have made it impossible to pass the bill as it stood.

Support for the bill among Hong Kong politicians was seriously eroded in July when around 500,000 people took to the streets, in protests which also alarmed China's leaders.

Hong Kong is required to outlaw sedition, treason and subversion under the mini-constitution negotiated for the territory when China resumed sovereignty over the former British colony in 1997.

But critics of the bill said it would erode political and religious freedom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/3082716.stm