As Hong Kong reckons with worst fire in decades, many see echoes of 2019

As Hong Kong grapples with the aftermath of a devastating lodging property occurrence that killed astatine slightest 159 people, the calamity has revived immoderate of the mistrust and divisions successful the metropolis that exploded successful the signifier of 2019’s antigovernment protests.

The metropolis watched successful fearfulness connected November 26 arsenic the occurrence broke retired astatine Wang Fuk Court and past steadily dispersed to 7 of the complex’s 8 towers. Many residents were trapped inside, owed to faulty alarms, according to authoritative reports.

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The fig of casualties has kept climbing since the occurrence was extinguished connected November 28 – aft burning for much than 40 hours – but Wang Fuk Court is connected way to beryllium 1 of the worst fires connected grounds since a 1948 blaze killed 176 people.

The standard has been unthinkable for galore Hong Kongers.

“This is not a colony successful the mediate of nowhere; this is simply a downtown area. We wouldn’t person assumed specified things would person happened,” Issie, an pedagogue who works successful Tai Po district, location to Wang Fuk Court, told Al Jazeera.

“This is thing wholly unthinkable. We would person expected the authorities to person … enactment retired the fire.”

After the occurrence broke out, Hong Kongers rapidly mobilised successful ways not seen since the 2019 protests, erstwhile citizens, assemblage groups, and spiritual groups distributed food, water, and structure to young protesters – adjacent if they did not ever hold with them.

In Tai Po, assemblage groups and individuals rapidly brought clothing, food, and different supplies for the lodging estate’s 4,000-plus residents, arsenic others collated online databases of assistance.

Then came a petition calling for “four demands” of authorities accountability successful the fire, a motion to the 2019 protestation slogan of “five demands, not 1 less”. Local media reported that much than 10,000 radical signed the petition earlier it was yet taken down.

Walls of handwritten notes appeared, mourning the fire’s victims, successful a striking ocular similarity to the 2019 protestation artworks known arsenic “Lennon Walls”.

People sojourn a assets postulation constituent acceptable up by volunteers to supply supplies for residents affected by the deadly fire, adjacent the Wang Fuk Court lodging analyzable successful Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, connected November 28, 2025 [Jessie Pang/Reuters]

Mobilisation is successful Hong Kong’s “DNA”, a Hong Kong prof acquainted with the city’s governance operation told Al Jazeera, requesting anonymity due to the fact that of fears of nonrecreational repercussions.

“People couldn’t recognize wherefore that happened … due to the fact that it was expected to beryllium a large-scale renovation project. The renovation task took spot to marque residents safer, to marque the gathering operation safer, and instead, it led to this tragedy,” helium said.

Hong Konger Athena Tong, a visiting probe chap astatine the University of Tokyo, echoed a presumption held by galore successful the metropolis – that the authorities was dilatory to respond.

“The information that it was indispensable for society, the mundane citizens, to mobilise astatine that standard to assistance with alleviation demonstrates that determination is nary spot that the authorities is competent,” Tong told Al Jazeera.

Online, Hong Kongers began to question the government’s aboriginal response, including an aboriginal proposition from officials and experts that Wang Fuk Court’s bamboo scaffolding – a Hong Kong operation contented – was liable for the occurrence and should beryllium replaced with metal.

Fire investigators aboriginal ruled that subpar mesh netting and Styrofoam blocks were the main culprits.

But immoderate of the discontent comes from the mode the 2019 protests – and the heavy existential questions they raised astir the aboriginal of Hong Kong – were ne'er truly resolved, according to observers.

The protests broke retired successful 2019 implicit plans to amend Hong Kong’s extradition statement with China, but they erupted into a wide antigovernment question arsenic a scope of grievances began to aboveground – immoderate dating backmost to the city’s 1997 instrumentality to Chinese sovereignty.

The pushback ranged from issues specified arsenic however Hong Kong’s section person would beryllium chosen to whether Beijing was backpedalling connected promises that the erstwhile British colony would clasp a “high grade of autonomy” until 2047 nether the “one country, 2 systems” statement with China. For others, the protests brought up questions astir the aboriginal of Hong Kong’s unsocial individuality and culture.

People commune arsenic they laic flowers astatine a makeshift memorial adjacent the Wang Fuk Court lodging analyzable residents aft the deadly fire, successful Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, December 1, 2025 [Maxim Shemetov/Reuters]

Pro-government Hong Kongers and Chinese officials, by contrast, saw the protests arsenic a metropolis descending into chaos, perchance encouraged by overseas powers similar the US government, which wanted to destabilise Hong Kong for their ain reasons.

The protests brought Hong Kong to a standstill for months but began to fizzle successful 2020 arsenic authorities enacted COVID-19 containment laws. In mid-2020, Beijing imposed nationalist information authorities that made wide protests adjacent to impossible.

Issie, the Hong Kong resident, said determination were parallels betwixt the government’s effect successful 2019 and 2025.

“If you look astatine the effect they person to a batch of issues, particularly erstwhile it comes to radical being captious astir their policies, and adjacent this clip erstwhile radical were trying to help,” she told Al Jazeera, “These things wouldn’t person happened before.”

Earlier this week, a Hong Kong authorities spokesperson said “foreign forces and anti-China and destabilising forces” had been disseminating fake quality online and done “seditious pamphlets” to “maliciously smear the rescue work, instigate societal part and struggle to undermine the society’s unity” successful connection highly reminiscent of its 2019 remarks.

Their comments were echoed by Hong Kong’s Office for Safeguarding National Security of the Central People’s Government, which said a “small fig of outer hostile forces” were trying to exploit the calamity and “replicate tactics from the anti-extradition measure unrest” successful 2019 to disrupt rescue and betterment efforts, according to China’s state-run Global Times newspaper.

Hong Kong constabulary person arrested astatine slightest 15 radical arsenic of Friday for suspected manslaughter successful narration to the fire, and separately arrested astatine slightest 3 others connected suspicion of sedition and “attempting to incite discord”, according to section media reports.

They see an unnamed assemblage volunteer, erstwhile territory councillor Kenneth Cheung, and assemblage pupil Miles Kwan, who was arrested for leafleting, according to section media.

People permission notes with well-wishes for those affected by the deadly occurrence astatine the Wang Fuk Court lodging complex, successful Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, November 30, 2025 [Tyrone Siu/Reuters]

Ronny Tong, a subordinate of the section government’s Executive Council, told Al Jazeera that small accusation has been released astir the sedition-related arrests, and the nationalist information charges against them would person relied connected much grounds than disapproval of the government.

“We – with a superior W – instrumentality the presumption that the instrumentality is the law. There is simply a anticipation that if idiosyncratic is infringing the instrumentality astatine a precise delicate clip … past the constabulary should enactment connected the broadside of caution. If they overreacted, the courts volition beryllium determination to safeguard,” Ronny Tong said.

He told Al Jazeera that helium felt it made consciousness for the authorities to instrumentality implicit assemblage assistance from volunteers to streamline their efforts. Over the past week, the authorities promised Wang Fuk Court residents would person escaped lodging until their homes were rebuilt, and offered a subsidy of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars ($12,847).

Hong Kong person John Lee has besides called for an autarkic committee to analyse the occurrence and reappraisal Hong Kong’s gathering works system, though lone a constricted fig of details person been released.

As of Friday, nary authorities authoritative has resigned implicit the deadly fire.

“The government, astatine the moment, is looking into whether determination person been immoderate corruption practices progressive [in the fire], and past determination is simply a question of rebuilding,” Ronny Tong said. “The lone existent assistance that we could springiness to the victims is to springiness them backmost their homes. We can’t springiness them backmost their relatives, who unluckily person passed away, but I deliberation it is wrong the powerfulness of the assemblage to rebuild the buildings.”