{"id":418102,"date":"2025-12-01T22:19:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T22:19:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/418102\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T22:19:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T22:19:21","slug":"hong-kong-stifles-dissent-after-fire-draws-an-outpouring-of-public-sympathy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/418102\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong stifles dissent after fire draws an outpouring of public sympathy"},"content":{"rendered":"

HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 Hong Kong officials said Monday that their investigation into a deadly blaze that killed at least 151 has revealed some of the netting that covered scaffolding<\/a> used in renovations was not up to fire-safety codes, as a wave of public sympathy and support was met by government moves to stifle criticism.<\/p>\n

Wednesday\u2019s blaze<\/a>, which took until Friday to fully extinguish, started on the lower-level netting covering bamboo scaffolding around one building in the high-rise Wang Fuk Court complex. It then swept inside as foam panels placed over windows caught fire and blew out the glass. Winds carried flames from building to building that all were covered in scaffolding and netting, until seven of eight were ablaze.<\/p>\n

Initial tests of the netting showed it was up to code, but subsequently investigators collected 20 samples from all areas, including higher floors, and found seven failed safety standards, suggesting contractors<\/a> skimped to make greater profits, said Eric Chan, Hong Kong\u2019s Chief Secretary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey just wanted to make money at the expense of people\u2019s lives,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n

Donations<\/a> for survivors of the fire had reached 900 million Hong Kong dollars ($115 million) as of Monday, authorities said, as a steady stream of people placed flowers, cards and other tributes at a makeshift memorial near the burned out block of buildings.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen something happens, we come out to help each other, \u201d said Loretta Loh, after paying her regards at the site. \u201cI have a heavy heart.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 4,600 people<\/a> lived in the Wang Fuk Court complex in the suburb of Tai Po. <\/p>\n

Hong Kong police Disaster Victim Identification Unit staff had searched five of the burned buildings but only made partial progress through the remaining two, said Tsang Shuk-yin, head of the police casualty enquiry unit. Teams were assessing the safety of the other buildings, including the one that caught fire first and suffered the worst damage. <\/p>\n

On Monday they recovered another eight bodies, including three that firefighters found earlier but could not retrieve. Dozens of people remain unaccounted for, but some are likely among the 39 bodies not yet identified, Tsang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to wait until we get through all seven blocks before we can make a final report,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Private donations and 300 million Hong Kong dollars ($38.5 million) in start-up capital from the government will be used to help victims rebuild their homes and provide long–term support, local officials said. The government has also given survivors cash subsidies to help with expenses, including funerals, and is working to find them housing.<\/p>\n

By Monday, 683 residents had found places in local hotels and hostels, and another 1,144 moved into transitional housing units. Two emergency shelters remained open for others, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Residents had complained for almost a year about the construction netting, Hong Kong\u2019s Labor Department said. It confirmed officials had carried out 16 inspections of the renovation project since July 2024 and had warned contractors multiple times in writing that they had to meet fire safety requirements. The latest inspection was just a week before the fire.<\/p>\n

Hong Kong\u2019s anti-corruption authorities and police have arrested 14 people, including the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, according to Chris Tang, the secretary for security.<\/p>\n

People increasingly have been questioning whether government officials should also be held responsible.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are angry and think that the HK (Hong Kong) government should be accountable,\u201d said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a locally-based political scientist and senior research fellow at Paris\u2019s Asia Centre think tank.<\/p>\n

But the leeway for dissent<\/a> is limited in the former British colony, which came under Chinese control in 1997 and has moved to quiet public criticism on national security grounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are rumors being spread by bad people giving fake news about the firefighters not employing the correct tactics to fight the fire, or victims being charged 8,000 Hong Kong dollars a night to stay in hotels – these are all false,\u201d Tang said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will arrest these rumor mongers.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Saturday, the Office for Safeguarding National Security blasted what it called \u201cevil schemes\u201d that had \u201dthe ulterior motives of using the disaster to create trouble and disrupt Hong Kong.\u201d It did not give specifics.<\/p>\n

Also Saturday, a man who helped organize an online petition calling for government accountability was arrested on suspicion of sedition, local media including HK01 and Sing Tao Daily reported. Two others were arrested on Sunday, including a volunteer who offered help in Tai Po after the fire broke out, the same outlets reported.<\/p>\n

Cabestan said Hong Kong officials were operating like authorities in mainland China, forestalling protests before they might develop.<\/p>\n

Tang would not give specific details of the three arrests, but said that police \u201cmust take action\u201d against those who try to \u201cendanger national security,\u201d saying broadly that some people have been \u201ctaking advantage of the saddening moment … and attempting to incite hatred against the government.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dissent in the city has been muzzled<\/a> since hundreds of thousands took to the streets in 2019 against government plans to allow extradition to mainland China. Hong Kong now virtually bans mass protests and bars opposition political figures from running in legislature elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HONG KONG (AP) \u2014 Hong Kong officials said Monday that their investigation into a deadly blaze that killed…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":418103,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,74161,192879,4216,57,8464,6604,195765,50,80,103,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-418102","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-chris-tang","10":"tag-eric-chan","11":"tag-fires","12":"tag-general-news","13":"tag-hong-kong","14":"tag-international-news","15":"tag-jean-pierre-cabestan","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-politics","18":"tag-world","19":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115646638831473429","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}