A Hong Kong man has been arrested on suspicion of sedition in relation to the fatal Tai Po fire, according to local media reports, citing unnamed sources.
Hong Kong police did not confirm the arrest in an emailed reply to HKFP, only saying that they “will take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law.”
HKFP has learned that Hong Kong university student Miles Kwan was arrested on Saturday. He initiated a petition urging the government to respond to “four big demands” after the fatal tragedy that killed at least 128 people.
Kwan – along with two friends who declined to be named or photographed – distributed flyers for the “Tai Po Fire Concern Group” with a link to the Change.org petition outside Tai Po MTR station on Friday evening.
The Instagram page and the petition link are no longer accessible, according to an HKFP check.
A fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed seven of the eight residential towers in the housing complex. The blaze was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
Regulations ‘not respected’
Kwan said he created the petition after Chief Secretary Eric Chan said the city would phase out bamboo scaffolding in favour of metal scaffolding. Chan’s remarks, Kwan said, distracted from the real issue.
“We see that the regulatory laws that people [who] are building the buildings should be compliant to – we see them not being respected,” he said on Friday.
The student called for the government to ensure accommodation for displaced residents; set up an independent investigation committee to look into potential conflicts of interest; review the construction supervision system; and probe regulatory neglect, as well as hold government officials accountable.
Kwan’s calls come amid rumours of suspected bid-rigging linked to renovation works at the estate.
According to local media, the project was awarded by the Wang Fuk Court owners’ corporation to the construction company that submitted the most expensive bid. A police investigation found the foam boards used were highly flammable.
Police arrested three men linked to the construction company responsible for the renovation work on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday. They were released on bail on Friday.
On Friday, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) arrested eight people suspected of corruption, including directors of a construction consultancy firm and scaffolding subcontractors.
The ICAC announced on Saturday that it had arrested the three men previously nabbed by police.
Sedition was previously criminalised under the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, with a maximum penalty of two years in prison. That law was repealed in March 2024, when Hong Kong enacted its homegrown security legislation, better known as Article 23 legislation, which raised the maximum penalty for sedition to seven years in prison.
Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.
