Brian Hioeby Brian Hioe
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Photo Credit: Brian Hioe
A VIGIL WAS held today in Liberty Plaza in Taipei to memorialize those who died in the deadly Wong Fuk Court fire on November 26th that killed at least 159 and injured 79. Several hundred were in attendance.
The vigil, which was a simple one without much commentary, began shortly after 7 PM. The commemorations were conducted in three languages, Cantonese, Mandarin, and English, with moderators stating at the start of the vigil that volunteers were available for those who experienced difficulties with their emotions during the memorial.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
The memorial began, then, with several minutes of silence for the victims of the fire. Subsequently, participants were asked to write messages on sticky notes and to fold paper cranes. The sticky notes were then posted onto a banner, while the paper cranes were attached to the letters “HK”. During this time, soft Cantonese music was played. Flowers were laid out.
The memorial was organized on short notice as a volunteer-run effort. Volunteers were sought for a number of tasks, including design, donating materials and supplies, mental health support, and setting up memorial stations. Several stations have already been set up in Taipei, Taichung, and Tainan. The most memorial stations are in Taipei, often at sites frequented by Hongkongers as Now Here Bookstore and September Cha Chaan Teng.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Indeed, memorials occur across Taiwan, as coordinated by Hongkongers living in Taiwan and local Taiwanese. Another memorial vigil will take place in Tainan tomorrow night, starting at 5 PM outside the National Museum of Taiwan Literature.
The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong since 1948. Outrage has ensued over the fact that authorities originally tried to deflect blame onto bamboo scaffolding used at the Wong Fuk Court. Popularly seen as a symbol of Hong Kong’s cultural heritage, the bamboo scaffolding remained intact after the blaze, while cheap netting and styrofoam boards were in fact what burned.
Sticky notes with messages being attached to a banner. Photo credit: Brian Hioe
As more details about the fire trickled in, anger centered on cost-cutting and lax safety inspections as contributing to the outbreak of the deadly blaze. Namely, the institutional actors and watchdog organizations that called attention to the potential danger have been cracked down upon since the 2019 protests in Hong Kong. In the wake of the protests, which were broadly against the deterioration of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong, Hong Kong authorities have increasingly taken action against civil society groups and civic actors with the view that dissent is dangerous. Hong Kong authorities are, of course, acting at the behest of Beijing.
Paper cranes being attached to the letters “HK”. Photo credit: Brian Hioe
Indeed, the Hong Kong government followed a familiar script after the fire. After university student Miles Kwan launched a petition urging action after the blaze, he was arrested by authorities. Miles Kwan’s petition referred to “four demands” in terms reminiscent of the “Five demands, not one less” slogan used during the 2019 protests, but avoided political demands.
To this extent, with mutual aid efforts for the victims of the Wong Fuk Court effort initiated by Hongkongers, Hong Kong authorities have also sought to crack down. Such mutual aid efforts are framed as orchestrated by dark forces out to undermine Hong Kong–the same claim made by the Hong Kong government in the course of the 2019 protests. Rather than acknowledge how the retraction of democratic freedoms that Hong Kong had once enjoyed had provoked members of the public into action, Hong Kong authorities instead blamed external infiltrators out to create chaos in Hong Kong society.
Photo credit: Brian Hioe
With memorial vigils and other events organized after the fire, one notes that there have largely not been mobilizations of overseas Hongkongers and supportive allies on such a scale since 2019. Even if Hong Kong may still be in a period of mourning, it is not impossible that anger over the fire and the handling of the aftermath by Hong Kong authorities sets off another round of demonstrations.