Calls for accountability over lethal Hong Kong fire silenced

Not long before he was reportedly detained, Miles Kwan approached commuters outside a Hong Kong train station, urging them to demand accountability for the deadly inferno that tore through nearby apartment blocks.

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"We all feel unhappy that [Hong Kong] has come to this and we want things to improve," the 24-year-old student said on Friday, while handing out flyers that called for an independent probe into the blaze, which killed at least 146 people last week.

"We need to be frank about how today’s Hong Kong is riddled with holes, inside and out."

The demands by Kwan and other organisers turned into an online petition that gained more than 10 000 signatures in less than a day.

However, Hong Kong media reported on Saturday night that Kwan was arrested by national security police on suspicion of sedition and the text of the online petition had been deleted, showing how, under Beijing’s watchful eye, dissenting voices in Hong Kong can vanish as quickly as they appear.

Police declined to confirm the arrest on Saturday, saying only that they "will take actions according to actual circumstances and in accordance with the law".