HONG KONG — A massive fire thattore through a Hong Kong apartment complex, killing more than 150 people, has ignited an upsurge in public anger that is testing Beijing's control of the Chinese territory.
TheNov. 26 fire at Wang Fuk Courtin the northern district of Tai Po has deeply shaken Hong Kong's population amid accusations ofcorrupt business practices and failures in government oversight.
The blaze was the city's first major manmade disaster since national security laws were imposed afterhuge anti-government protests in 2019, and there have already been several reported arrests and official warnings against "anti-China" forces accused of sowing discord.
On Wednesday, Chinese national security authorities in Hong Kong issued their second warning in a week, saying that "external hostile forces" were using the fire to try to "recreate the chaos" of 2019 under the pretext of "petitioning for the people."
"Those who oppose China and disrupt Hong Kong will be punished even if they are far away," the statement said.
Investigators say the five-alarm fire spread rapidly because ofsubstandard mesh nettingthat coveredbamboo scaffoldingerected around the buildings for renovations, as well as highly flammable polystyrene boards that were sealed to the windows. Residents also said fire alarms failed to go off.
The death toll rose to 159 on Wednesday after police finished searching all seven of the high-rise towers that were engulfed in flames that took 40 hours to put out, officials said.
The blaze elicited grief, anger and fear in the densely packed city of 7.5 million people, whichreturned to Chinafrom British colonial rule in 1997.
"This case, I think, goes to the very core of Hong Kong," said John Burns, an emeritus professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong. "And one reason is because we all live in buildings just like that. This could happen to any one of us."
Officials have been conducting inspections at construction sites around the city and said Wednesday that mesh netting would be removed from 200 buildings by Saturday.
For Beijing, the fire risks becoming "a national security threat, a threat to stability, and so that's why they have taken the action that they did," Burns said.
The Hong Kong government issued its own warning on Wednesday against unnamed "anti-China and destabilizing forces," accusing them of spreading misinformation and "distributing seditious pamphlets."
A spokesperson said that "any malicious smearing" aimed at government or rescue personnel would not be tolerated, "in particular criminal acts that are intended to incite hatred against the government."
Wang Fuk Court was home to about 4,600 people, about a third of them over age 65. Those who were killed ranged in age from 1 to 97, officials said.
Residents of the only tower that was not affected were briefly allowed to return to their homes on Wednesday and Thursday to pack their belongings while the investigation continues.
John Lee, Hong Kong's top leader, said Tuesday that an independent committee led by a judge would investigate the cause of the fire and that those responsible would be held accountable "regardless of who he or she is."
He said the investigation would examine "issues of corruption, bid-rigging and irregular tendering in building maintenance projects," as well as the installation and operation of fire safety systems, and that the results would be made public.
"We will reform the whole building renovation system to ensure that such things will not happen again," Lee told reporters.
A separate investigation is already underway by the city's anti-corruption body.
Fifteen people from various construction companies have been arrested so far on suspicion of manslaughter. This week, police also arrested six people from a registered fire service installation contractor on suspicion of fraud.
Lee did not address reports that at least three people have been arrested by the national security police since the weekend over their criticism of the government, but he said he would not tolerate any crimes that "exploit the tragedy."
Kenneth Cheung, a former district councilor who was arrested after publicly criticizing the fire response, said in a social media post Monday that he had been released on bail pending an investigation. He said in a separate post Tuesday that he could not say more "as there is a gag order regarding the national security case."
The two others reportedly arrested for alleged sedition were Miles Kwan, a university student who created an online petition calling for an independent investigation into the fire, and an unidentified volunteer who was handing out supplies to fire victims. Kwan was seen leaving a police station on Monday.
Hong Kong police did not directly comment when asked about the reported sedition arrests.
A year of complaints
Residents of Wang Fuk Court had complained for more than a year that the renovations posed fire hazards, but their concerns were dismissed.
The Labor Department said it had conducted 16 investigations of the estate since renovations began in July 2024. During that time the department issued six notices and initiated three prosecutions, it said in a statement, which did not provide details.
During the most recent inspection on Nov. 20, less than a week before the fire, the department again warned the contractor to take appropriate fire prevention measures, though it said it did not find any issues warranting prosecution.
Hong Kong observed a three-day official mourning period from Saturday to Monday, with 18 locations set up across the city for mourners to sign condolence books.
In Tai Po, the air around Wang Fuk Court still bore a charred smell on Monday, five days after the fire. Despite the hundreds of people gathered around a de facto memorial, a silence hung in the air, broken only by the sound of birds chirping as the sun set.
Mourners, many of them teary-eyed, gently laid white lilies in a circle in a grassy area that had once been a sitting-out area for the estate's residents.
"There is this spirit of helping one another and watching out for each other," said Hebbe Chan, a 20-year-old university student who had come to pay her respects.
"Only after I came to the scene today did I start to feel a kind of sadness, to feel that this fire has really taken away so, so much," she said.
Though campaigning was suspended after the fire, Lee said Tuesday that the legislative election scheduled for this Sunday would go ahead as planned, saying having new lawmakers in place would help with fire recovery efforts.
This is the second legislative election since Hong Kong laws were overhauled to reduce the number of directly elected seats and require candidates toundergo national security vetting. Officials said the changes, which left the legislature with no meaningful opposition, were necessary to restore stability after the 2019 protests and that civil liberties in Hong Kong are still protected.
Turnout in Hong Kong's first "patriots only" election in 2021 was arecord low 30.2%, down from 58% in 2016. This year, more than two dozen people have been arrested over alleged attempts to sabotage the election, mostly by damaging posters. Others have been charged after publicly urging an election boycott, which was criminalized under the new election laws.
