The Hong Kong national security police arrested a 71-year-old man on Saturday, accusing him of publishing videos with “seditious intention” online and inciting hatred of the government in the wake of an apartment complex fire that killed at least 159 people.
It is the first arrest that the national security police have confirmed in relation to the Nov. 26 fire as part of what critics say is a wider crackdown on public demands for greater accountability from the government.
The blaze was the deadliest fire in Hong Kong in nearly 80 years, engulfing seven high-rise towers in the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Tai Po. Officials have said that substandard construction materials likely contributed to the spread of the fire, raising questions about the city’s oversight of its building industry and whether warnings had been ignored.
The police, who did not identify the man they arrested, said that he had been called in for questioning last Tuesday as part of a national security investigation, which typically comes with strict nondisclosure rules. The police said that he had “recklessly publicized all of the contents” of that discussion, including on social media.
In doing so, it had the effect of “tipping off” other people involved in the investigation, said Steve Li, chief superintendent of the National Security Department of the Hong Kong police.
The man was also suspected of posting multiple videos with “seditious” intent to provoke “hatred” toward the governments in China and Hong Kong as well as the judiciary in Hong Kong, the authorities said.
Mr. Li said the man had accused the governments in China and Hong Kong of being “instigators that used the fire to create chaos within Hong Kong.” He said the man also described China’s support for Hong Kong after the fire as “only a form of show.”
“This is also clearly a lie and an act of sedition,” Mr. Li said.
The authorities declined to confirm at least two other arrests by the national security police: Kenneth Cheung, a former elected district official who posted criticism on Facebook of the authorities’ response to the fire, and Miles Kwan, a 24-year-old university student who handed out fliers near the fire site calling for an independent probe into the disaster.
Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong, a semiautonomous city, has also issued statements warning “anti-China” forces not to exploit the fire to sow social instability. On Saturday, it summoned representatives and journalists from some foreign media organizations, including The New York Times, to warn them about coverage of the fire and legislative elections that were being held on Sunday.
Analysts say the strong response by China’s and Hong Kong’s national security agencies suggests that the authorities are concerned that the fire could fuel a fresh political reckoning in a city that was consumed with antigovernment protests in 2019.
Mr. Li said the national security police would continue to investigate anyone looking to “create hatred” toward the governments in China and Hong Kong. He said the response to the fire by some individuals resembled the “black-clad” violence, a reference to the 2019 era protesters who dressed uniformly in black.
“We, the national security team, of course have to investigate these behaviors,” he said.
Theodora Yu contributed reporting.
David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades.
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