香港有人因火災請願而被捕引發公眾討論（1/2）

Recently Google News on-line picked up the following:

Arrest over fire petition stirs public debate in Hong Kong (1/2)

BBC - Kelly Ng

5 Dec 2025

When university student Miles Kwan launched a petition demanding answers from Hong Kong authorities after one of the city's deadliest fires last week, he was arrested.

The ferocious blaze had ravaged a densely populated housing estate in the northern Tai Po district, killing at least 159 people and displacing thousands.

As public anger grew, the pro-Beijing authorities warned, repeatedly, against attempts to "exploit" the fire to "endanger national security".

Kwan was reportedly arrested by Hong Kong national security police on suspicion of sedition. He is now on bail, according to local media.

Police told the BBC that it "would handle any action taken in accordance with the law and the actual circumstances".

There was also a strong public reaction to the arrest. To some, the decision to arrest him was "baffling". To others, it was simply Beijing's playbook, replicated. The Hong Kong government says that it's about trying to protect rule of law in a testing moment for the city.

'A human response to tragedy'

Ronny Tong, a member of Hong Kong's Executive Council, disputed the suggestion that Hong Kongers are being suppressed. "The government is trying to be prudent," he tells the BBC.

Regina Ip, another Hong Kong lawmaker, also defended the arrests. Authorities are being "extra careful" that public anger does not led to a "recurrence of the 2019 riots", she told the BBC's Newshour radio programme.

Among the questions in the petition and being asked by many Hong Kongers include how the blaze could have swept through the buildings so rapidly and whether any government officials should be held responsible.

"You have to differentiate genuine expressions of opinion from petitions with criminal intent. That is what our courts will have to find out," Ip added.

Kwan's petition, which listed "four demands" - echoing the "five demands, not one less" slogan that rallied protesters in 2019 - gathered more than 10,000 signatures in less than a day before it was taken down.

Days later, the city's leader John Lee said Hong Kong would "go all out" to support victims and investigate the blaze.

He anounced a number of actions such as the convening of an independent committee to investigate the fire, a review of the building works system, and temporary accommodation and financial aid to victims.

Many of these were what people were calling for already - and they also formed a part of Kwan's petition.

"It's baffling how Miles was [arrested] for asking basic questions on behalf of many residents, which the government went on to address anyway," said Samuel Chu, a pro-democracy activist who reposted Kwan's petition on a separate platform.

"This is not a political campaign. It's a human response to the tragedy," he said.

(to be continued)

Translation

香港有人因火災請願而被捕引發公眾討論（1/2）

上週，香港發生一單造成多人死亡的火災，大學生關靖豐（Miles Kwan）發起請願，要求香港當局給予解釋，隨後他遭到逮捕。

這場猛烈的大火肆虐了位於大埔區北部的一個人口密集的屋邨，造成至少159人死亡，數千人失去家园。

隨著民眾憤怒情緒高漲，親北京的當局多次警告，不要試圖「利用」這場火災「危害國家安全」。

據報道，關靖豐因涉嫌煽動叛亂被香港國安警察逮捕。據當地媒體報道，他目前已獲保釋。

警方告訴BBC，他們「將依法依規處理任何行動」。

這次逮捕事件也引發了公眾的強烈反應。對某些人來說，逮捕他的決定「令人費解」。對另一些人來說，這不過是北京慣用的伎倆。香港政府表示，此舉是為了在香港面臨考驗的時刻維護法治。

“這只是一個對悲劇的人性化回應”

香港行政會議成員唐英年駁斥了香港民眾受到鎮壓的說法。他告訴BBC： “政府只是正在謹慎行事。”

另一位香港立法會議員葉劉淑儀也為逮捕行動辯護。她告訴BBC新聞廣播節目《新聞時刻》，當局正在出於 “格外謹慎” 而做事，以防止重演公眾的憤怒導致 “2019年的騷亂” 。

請願書中提出的問題，以及許多香港市民提出的問題，包括大火為何能如此迅速地席捲整棟大樓，以及是否有政府官員應該為此負責。

葉補充道:「你必須區分真誠的意見表達和帶有犯罪意圖的請願。這正是我們的法院需要找出的」。

關的請願書列出了“四項訴求”，呼應了2019年示威者提出的“五項訴求，一項也不能少”的口號。這份請願書在被移除前不到一天就收集到了超過1萬個簽名。

幾天后，香港特首李家超表示，香港將「全力以赴」支持受害者並調查火災原因。

他宣佈了一系列措施，例如成立獨立委員會調查火災、檢討建築工程制度，以及為受害者提供臨時住所和經濟援助。

其中許多措施正是民眾先前呼籲的，也是關的請願書的內容之一。

民主活動人士Samuel Chu在另一個平台上轉發了關先生的請願書並說道:「關只是代表許多居民提出了一些基本問題，而政府後來也去處理這些問題，卻因此被捕，這令人費解。」

他說:「這不是一場政治運動，而是對這場悲劇的人性回應」。

（待續）