The fire has already led to the arrest of more than a dozen people for alleged negligent homicide, in an investigation that points to irregularities in the maintenance work that was underway at the public housing complex.
The Hong Kong Government today announced an independent investigation to determine the causes of the fire that killed at least 151 people, in addition to indicating that the legislative elections “will be held as scheduled” on Sunday.
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee Ka-chiu, announced the creation of an independent commission, chaired by a judge, to investigate “to the end” the fire that broke out on Wednesday in the Wang Fuk Court residential complex, in the north of the semi-autonomous region, while the search continues for almost 40 missing people.
This commission will determine, in agreement with the director, the causes of the incident and propose structural changes.
“Those guilty will be held accountable regardless of their position”, he assured.
The fire has already led to the arrest of more than a dozen people for alleged negligent homicide, in an investigation that points to irregularities in the maintenance work that was underway at the public housing complex.
Expert examinations carried out on 20 samples of netting used outdoors, collected at different heights, detected that seven of them did not meet fire resistance standards.
The approved material was only installed on the ground floors to avoid controls following the passage of super typhoon Ragasa in July.
At the same time, at least three people have been detained since Saturday for alleged violations against national security: a 22-year-old university student who launched a petition with more than 10,000 signatures calling for an independent investigation, former district councilor Kenneth Cheung and a volunteer, all accused of “exploiting the tragedy to incite hatred and create instability”.
The national security protection office warned that this type of behavior “will be punished mercilessly”.
Before the weekly meeting of the Executive Council, John Lee also stated that the future deputies of the Legislative Council (LegCo, the local parliament) will be “fundamental partners” in supervising the allocation of public funds and reviewing policies to avoid new catastrophes in Hong Kong, a city neighboring Macau.
Maintaining the date of the legislative elections, which the Government considered postponing, “is respecting the constitutional order and the rule of law”, insisted the government official, before warning that “any attempt at sabotage or political exploitation of the tragedy will be vigorously pursued”.
“We need to build a better Hong Kong. Justice will be done. It is a tragedy, yes, we need reform, we have identified the flaws, we must act firmly to hold those responsible to account, we will reform the entire building rehabilitation system, we will do everything possible”, he said.
The leader also pointed out that “fires happen in all cities and that Hong Kong will do everything to avoid them”.
Of the 90 seats in the LegCo, only 20 are elected by direct universal suffrage in geographic constituencies (51 candidates), 30 are elected by different sectors of activity (60 candidates) and the remaining 40 are designated by an electoral college (50 candidates), a body whose 1,500 members are, in the majority, Beijing supporters.
Following a record low turnout of 30.2% in the 2021 elections – the first after Beijing-imposed electoral reform – authorities launched a campaign to increase voter turnout, although all public events were suspended from last Thursday due to the fire.
