A woman fixes a written note outside the Wang Fuk Court on Nov 30, in the aftermath of the deadly fire in Hong Kong's Tai Po district. -- PHOTO: AFP
HONG KONG (Bloomberg): Hong Kong’s government moved to stamp out mounting public anger in the wake of the city’s deadliest fire in nearly eight decades, which left at least 146 people dead and raised questions about missed warnings.
The city’s National Security Police arrested a man who started a petition demanding the government take follow-up action after the fire, local media including HK01 reported, citing unidentified information. Police on Sunday made two more arrests - former district councillor Kenneth Cheung and an unidentified volunteer at the fire site.
Bloomberg wasn’t able to reach Cheung for a comment. In response to questions about the reported arrests, police said they would "take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law.”
Earlier, the Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong said it would take action against anyone who attempts to use the fire to stoke unrest or endanger national security.
The government action underscores its sensitivity toward any public unrest, a reaction stemming from the 2019 protests that roiled the city before Beijing imposed its national security law in 2020, effectively silencing dissent. Hong Kong has worked to rebuild its image since the crackdown and after the strict controls it imposed during Covid, which drew criticism from some Western governments.
The blaze at Wang Fuk Court in the New Territories town of Tai Po also comes as the government prepares for its heavily promoted legislative elections next week. The last polls in 2021 - the first to be held under the city’s "patriots-only” electoral system imposed by Beijing - saw a record low turnout as voters boycotted.
The legislative elections will go ahead as scheduled on Dec. 7 and campaigning will resume on Thursday, people familiar with the matter said. Local media reported earlier that the polls would take place.
Last week’s fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong since a warehouse blaze in 1948 that killed 176 people, and has stoked expressions of public anger not seen since the protests about six years ago. The government will need to balance containing dissent with showing it will hold those responsible for the disaster accountable.
"The person was proposing some very basic demands for transparency and accountability,” former legislator and self-exiled activist Nathan Law said of the arrest of the man who started the petition, calling it "outrageous.”
The move sends a message to the public that could cause people to be "intimidated and silenced,” he added: "because asking for the most basic answers and the most basic tools for justice is already a crime.”
Pro-democracy activist Law himself faces national security charges in Hong Kong where authorities have issued a HK$1 million ($128,450) bounty for his arrest.
Online petitions have surfaced expressing anger at the government for its "failure to regulate and its dereliction of duty.” One of them, which garnered more than 10,000 signatures before it was closed, put forward four demands for the government: to provide support to affected residents; examine the system for supervising construction work; set up an independent commission of inquiry; and pursue accountability while holding government officials responsible.
An Instagram page titled "Tai Po Wang Fuk Court Fire Concern Group” set up on Friday raised the four demands but has since been taken down.
The government, asked to comment on the petitions on Sunday, referred to a statement issued on Friday. The announcement detailed ongoing relief efforts including financial compensation for victims’ families and survivors, emergency accommodation and an investigation into the construction company that was carrying out a lengthy renovation on Wang Fuk Court.
Chinese-language Wen Wei Po on Saturday cited people familiar with the matter as saying the National Security Department is paying close attention to the "black-clad-violence” group, a term the government uses to refer to anti-government protesters, "hijacking” disaster relief efforts.
The state-owned newspaper said some residents reported black-masked people patrolling the platform where relief materials were stored, and the chief superintendent of the police’s National Security Department Steve Li Kwai-wah inspected the site on Friday evening.
Arrests
Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency has so far arrested 11 people in connection with the fire, including directors from the contractor responsible for the renovation. Regulators had issued repeated written warnings urging the contractor to put proper fire-prevention measures in place, including as recently as a week before the fire, according to the Labour Department.
The blaze began Wednesday when the netting wrapped around bamboo scaffolding caught fire and ignited highly flammable foam boards installed around windows, according to Secretary for Security Chris Tang. The intense heat set scaffolding alight, causing burning bamboo pieces to fall and ignite additional floors across the eight-tower complex in northern Hong Kong, he said.
The Housing Authority completed its inspection of six of the eight buildings in Wang Fuk Court, and found they presented no immediate danger, a spokesperson told the media on Sunday. The government said at the briefing that 79 people were injured in the fire. It did not rule out the possibility of the death toll climbing further.
On Saturday, the city began three days of mourning for victims of the fire, and Chief Executive John Lee led a ceremony at the government headquarters, where officials held three minutes of silence. Condolence points were set up in all of the territory’s 18 districts for the public to sign books and pay respects to those affected.
Lee said last week that each affected family would receive HK$10,000 ($1,284) in relief. The government announced on Friday that the households would get an additional HK$50,000 in living allowance.
The Hong Kong Housing Authority has also relaxed mortgage terms to let banks offer special arrangements - including deferred repayments - for Wang Fuk Court flat owners.
Displaced residents will be sheltered in temporary accommodation. About 1,800 units of transitional housing have been earmarked for them - roughly equivalent to the estate’s entire housing stock.
Alice Mak, secretary for home and youth affairs, said on a TV program Sunday that the government would ensure residents affected by the fire received free housing until their homes were rebuilt.
The goal is to relocate around 1,900 affected households into transitional housing or other accommodation within one to two weeks, she said.
In China, the government said on Saturday that it would inspect fire risks in high-rise buildings after the blaze in Hong Kong. The campaign will target residential blocks and places where people gather, focusing on properties undergoing exterior wall renovations or partial interior decorations, according to a statement posted Saturday on the Ministry of Emergency Management’s website.
China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration said that it would urge banking and insurance firms to help provide financial services and support, such as facilitating emergency money withdrawals, replacement of bank cards and passbooks, and insurance claim settlements, according to a statement on Sunday.
--With assistance from Kiuyan Wong, Twinnie Siu and Olivia Tam. -- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
