Royal Pier was a traditional vote bank for the Weihudun Interest Party. The Dockworkers Union, the Port Authority Committee, the loading and unloading contractors, and the councilors' offices in several nearby districts were bound together by a tangled web of ties.
The first flames of the incident burned straight onto the Weihudun Interest Party—the chairman of the Dockworkers Union came from the Interest Party, and several major loading and unloading contractors had long funneled political donations to them. A party that claimed it would fight for local residents' interests to the very last moment had actually let workers labor under such terrible conditions for years.
What caused an even greater public uproar was that, a few days later, the New People's Party's mouthpiece media released an interview from the afternoon of the day after Simon Albareda's death.
At the time, most people had only just learned that a member of the clergy had died at Royal Pier, and nothing had yet begun to ferment. As a result, a reporter stopped a municipal councilor from the Weihudun Interest Party at the Municipal Council Hall and asked him what he thought about the poor working conditions of the workers at Royal Pier, and in particular, whether this ran counter to his party's stated principles.
At first, the councilor showed an impatient expression. After being stopped and questioned several times, his gaze filled with loathing and disgust. Under the reporter's repeated questioning, he flew into a rage and answered:
"Royal Pier is full of casual workers and migrant laborers. Do people like that count as 'local residents' too?"
As soon as this video aired, the councilor immediately held a press conference and apologized publicly, saying he had chosen his words poorly and that deep down he respected all workers—however, it was too late.