Hong Kong (AFP) – A Hong Kong student, who was reportedly detained by police after handing out flyers calling for an independent probe into a fire that killed 146 people, left a police station on Monday.
Miles Kwan left the Cheung Sha Wan Division police station in a taxi on Monday afternoon, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
The 24-year-old pulled down his face mask and nodded at reporters from the taxi as it drove out of the police station. He did not comment.
Kwan was among several people behind a petition over the fire that broke out in high-rise towers of Wang Fuk Court housing estate last Wednesday, which became the world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980.
The petition called for government officials to be held accountable, an independent probe into possible corruption, proper resettlement for residents, and a review of construction oversight.
Local media reported on Saturday that Kwan was arrested for “seditious intention” by national security police, citing unnamed sources.
Multiple news outlets reported late on Sunday that another two people, including former district councillor Kenneth Cheung, were similarly arrested.
Asked by AFP about the three cases, police declined to confirm if any arrest had been made, saying only that they “will take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law”.
Kwan said Friday he was only “proposing very basic demands”.
“If these ideas are deemed seditious or ‘crossing the line’, then I feel I can’t predict the consequences of anything anymore, and I can only do what I truly believe,” he told AFP at the time.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption watchdog has arrested 11 people in connection to the blaze, with three of them also being arrested by police for manslaughter.
Mourners who turned up by the hundreds near Wang Fuk Court continued to leave notes of remembrance on Monday, some calling for accountability.
“Rest in peace, Hong Kongers don’t give up on freedom and truth, don’t stop being angry,” one unsigned note read.
Another read, “Hope your deaths were not in vain, the truth must come out for your sakes.”
