Hong Kong police on Friday raided the office of election co-organiser Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), the night before the democratic primaries, local broadcaster HK01 reported.
HK01 said cybercrime officers possessing a warrant entered the office and seized multiple computers.
Ousted democratic lawmaker, Au Hin, confirmed the raid on Twitter, adding that no one had been arrested.
The survey body was primed to help the democratic camp conduct electoral primaries scheduled for Saturday in the Chinese-ruled territory.
Those elected are to compete against largely pro-establishment candidates in the September elections of the Legislative Council, Hong Kong’s parliament.
According to local broadcaster RTHK, the raid was prompted by recent complaints that the company had leaked residents’ personal data, including that of police officers.
PORI emerged from 1991 University of Hong Kong programme as an independent pollster in early 2019 and is aligned with democratic lawmakers.
It has conducted sensitive polls on the Hong Kong Government’s popularity, the newly implemented national security law and the extradition Bill that spurred mass protests in 2019.
Earlier, a poll published by PORI indicated that the majority of Hong Kong residents support the U.S. revoking Hong Kong’s special status in response to a sweeping new national security law imposed on the territory by Beijing.
However, critics said the law, which targets secession, sedition, and collusion with foreign forces, was an attack on free speech in the city that had been rocked by anti-government protests over the past year.(dpa/NAN)
