Writer/Lawyer/Photographer. Author of Walkley-nominated book “City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong” (@scribepub).
Joined March 2007
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Follow me from the bird to the butterfly! I’m @ antd.bsky.social
Meanwhile renowned Chinese artist Gao Zhen has been jailed since August 2024 & his wife + US-citizen son placed under exit bans, purely for the content of his art which authorities alleged “slandered heroes and martyrs”. npr.org/2026/03/30/nx-s1-575…
Antony Dapiran retweeted
"A man from Chu who sold shields and spears boasted, 'My shield is so strong that nothing can pierce it. My spear is so sharp that there is no object it cannot pierce.'
Someone asked him, 'Would you like to be in Forbes?'"
- Han Feizi (c. 240 BC)
In response to bolted horse, gates have been closed.
In response to an order from the Buildings Department, as of December 9, scaffold nets had been removed from the external walls of all 230 private buildings #WangFukCourt
news.gov.hk/eng/2025/12/2025…
14 years after their merger, law firm King & Wood Mallesons “will separate into a China-focused King & Wood, which would absorb the large & profitable HK operation, & Australia-based Mallesons…”
afr.com/companies/profession…
My piece on the Tai Po fires for the @guardian // “The cauterisation of HK’s civil society has meant that the grassroots activism that would traditionally have occurred in response to such a tragedy is no longer possible.”
theguardian.com/world/commen…
Indeed “Voter turnout % increased solely because total voting population fell” is probably not the winning message HK’s leaders think it is…
TO WESTERN MEDIA: don’t just report that the voter turnout rate in yesterday’s “patriots only” Hong Kong LegCo elections was “better” than that of 2021:
1. Fewer votes were cast yesterday than in 2021 so the higher turnout rate is a result of there being fewer registered voters since 2021; and
2. This turnout rate is still a lot lower than back when LegCo elections were semi-competitive.
Always a great sign you’re having a free and fair election when you’re arresting multiple people on polling day for the crime of posting comments on social media.
‘Patriots only’ poll: 4 arrests over social media comments allegedly urging election boycott or invalid ballots. In full: hongkongfp.com/2025/12/07/pa…
In an environment where voter turnout is highly politicized — authorities using turnout as a proxy for legitimacy; people exhorted by “patriotic” employers to vote — anything that provides “evidence” of having voted fundamentally compromises this right & the election.
Voters were handed a "thank you" card after casting their ballot in the "patriots only" election on Sunday.
As of 1.30pm, 15.18 per cent of registered geographical constituency voters had cast a ballot. By this time in 2021, 14.39 per cent had turned out, but polls opened an hour later.
In full: buff.ly/SBCMgRb Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.
This is a step change. In last 5 yrs HK NatSec police have targeted local media but left intl media alone. Now they are flagging intl media are not immune. Expect arrests of (probably local) employees of intl media in near future. (But make sure you tell good HK stories folks!)
‘Don’t say we didn’t warn you’: China’s nat. sec office in Hong Kong summons international media. In full: hongkongfp.com/2025/12/06/do…
Critical public comment as tame as “Central government support for the fires are just putting on a show” results in arrest on national security crime of sedition.
Political commentator Wong On-yin has also been arrested for #sedition, police quoting him as saying the Chinese gov't's disaster relief efforts re the fire are just a show. He's the 4th person arrested for sedition in relation to the crackdown in HK on speech about the fire.
Setting aside that what he allegedly wrote was asinine and offensive, think this is the first time HK NatSec laws have been used for Mainland-style moral (as opposed to political) policing of online content.
Hong Kong YouTuber arrested for sedition over ‘depraved’ Tai Po fire remarks – reports. In full: hongkongfp.com/2025/12/04/ho…
Oof! @holmeschan_ goes hard!
The standard of government accountability in HK is actually lower than that in mainland cities. If this happened in the mainland, many heads in local government would roll. You don’t have to look for for examples (see thread below):
Faster than one can say “national security threat”, the Hong Kong Police’s National Security Division has, in connection with the Tao Po Fires, arrested a university student who started a concern group and disseminated a leaflet with calls for (1) further support for victims; (2) an independent inquiry into potential systemic and corruption issues which led to the disaster; (3) reforms to the regulation of construction works projects; and (4) that officials who fell short in events/policies that led to the disaster be held accountable.
Such demands would be considered the basic starting point in any democracy where such disasters have happened, and are not dissimilar to those demanded by @GrenfellUnited all those years ago. And yet in post-national security crackdown Hong Kong, one gets locked up for making such demands. Another irony in all this is that in Mainland China itself, it is now standard for local officials to be forced to step down after disasters, whereas in Hong Kong even just calling for official accountability can get you arrested for being a national security threat.
WESTERN MEDIA, IT REALLY IS TIME YOU STOP JUST REPEATING HONG KONG GOVERNMENT LINES AND SHOWING INAGES OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN “MOURNING” PHOTO OPS, AND SEEING THE DISASTER AND ITS AFTERMATH FOE WHAT IT REALLY IS.
“Beijing authorities suspended 3 district officials for gross negligence after an apartment building fire in the city’s Daxing district that killed 19 people. The 3 officials & 10 other cadres are under investigation by the Party's disciplinary watchdog.”
caixinglobal.com/2017-11-30/…
“A vice mayor of Shanghai received an administrative penalty & 2 senior officials were sacked in ramifications stemming from the high-rise apartment fire that killed 58 people and injured 71 others on November 15.” chinadaily.com.cn/china/2011…
This type of community mobilization drove the 2019 protest movement. No surprise authorities quickly shut it down here, despite the charitable purposes. In China, any kind of organizing outside official government auspices is seen as subversive.
Volunteers had gathered with donations and supplies for those affected by the fatal block fire in Hong Kong, but in less than 24 hours, authorities had almost completely cleared the square.
Sky's @HelenAnnSmith0 reports.
🔗 trib.al/R3HEkiG