Hong Kong police have arrested a man who helped launch an online petition demanding government accountability for one of the city’s deadliest fires.
According to multiple local media outlets, university student Miles Kwan was questioned by the Hong Kong Police National Security Department and later arrested after he started an online petition calling for an independent investigation into the blaze that engulfed a public-housing complex last week. The fire has killed 151 people, with the toll expected to climb.
Kwan’s petition laid out four demands: secure housing for survivors, establish an independent inquiry, review construction-safety oversight, and hold government officials accountable for regulatory failures.
The petition gained momentum quickly, collecting more than 10,000 signatures before authorities shut it down. Photographs of Kwan handing out leaflets featuring a QR code linking to the petition were published by local media outlet Hong Kong Free Press.
Speaking to AFP on Nov. 28, Kwan described his demands as “very basic.”
“If these ideas are deemed seditious or ‘crossing the line,’ then I feel I can’t predict the consequences of anything anymore,” he said. “I can only do what I truly believe.”
On Nov. 29, the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Ta Kung Wen Wei Media Group reported that Kwan had been arrested for online “incitement.” He was seen leaving Cheung Sha Wan Division police station on Dec. 1, Hong Kong Free Press reported, citing the AFP news agency.
On Dec. 1, local media reported that Kenneth Cheung, an ex-district councillor, was arrested at his home, along with an unidentified volunteer, by the Hong Kong Police National Security Department.
The Epoch Times contacted the Hong Kong Police Department to confirm the arrest and any charges filed, but did not receive a response.
Local media reports appear to indicate that the charges against these individuals were brought under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 without going through the city’s legislature. The UK has previously expressed concern about the new law, which has broad provisions and could negatively impact human rights, including freedom of expression, in its former colony.
Beijing Warns Protesters
China’s national security office in Hong Kong
issued a sharp warning on Nov. 29, vowing to take a “hard stance” against anyone who used the disaster to create unrest.
It warned individuals not to use the fire to “plunge Hong Kong back into the chaos” of 2019, when pro-democracy protesters challenged the Chinese Communist Party’s regime, leading to a political crisis.
“We sternly warn the anti-China disruptors who attempt to ‘disrupt Hong Kong through disaster.’ No matter what methods you use, you will certainly be held accountable and strictly punished,” authorities said.
People pray as they come to lay flowers at the makeshift memorial to the victims of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex's deadly fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on Nov. 30, 2025. (Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
Deadly Fire Prompts Anger, Questions
The blaze, which began on Nov. 26,
tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po District and burned for more than 43 hours. The buildings—four decades old and wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green protective netting for renovation—left residents trapped inside. Many windows had been sealed with foam boards to block noise and dust, making it difficult to detect the smoke outside.
Authorities say the fire likely started on the exterior scaffolding. Police have arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter. The three men were briefly released on bail before Hong Kong’s anti-corruption authorities rearrested them along with eight other suspects, including renovation project managers for the apartment complex, directors of an engineering consulting firm, and scaffolding subcontractors.
People hold flowers near the site to mourn the victims of the deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories, on Nov. 29, 2025. (Chan Long Hei/AP Photo)
Anna, a 69-year-old survivor, said to Deutsche Welle: “This wasn’t a natural disaster—it was man-made. I have no evidence, of course, but I was there throughout the entire renovation. How could a natural disaster just ignite by itself? I’ve gone from grief to anger.”
City Mourns Amid Political Tensions
Across Hong Kong, thousands of residents have
visited makeshift memorials to pay their respects. Community centers have been filled with flowers, condolence books, and people quietly wiping away tears.
Public grief is deep, while frustration is also simmering. Many mourners said they were devastated by the scale of the tragedy but hesitant to comment on the political fallout.
Burned buildings at the scene of the fire that started at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong's New Territories, on Nov. 28, 2025. (Chan Long Hei/AP Photo)
As Hong Kong struggles with the enormous human toll of the disaster, the arrest of a petition organizer has shifted the crisis into a new phase, one in which public mourning is increasingly entangled with fears about the boundaries of lawful expression under the National Security Law in the era after the 2019-2020 pro-democracy mass protests.
Fang Xiao and Jacob Burg contributed to this report.
