Hong Kong police have searched the business of an impartial political pollster days soon after Beijing imposed sweeping countrywide security legislation on the former British colony.

The raid arrived ahead of weekend principal elections for Hong Kong’s professional-democracy opposition, for which pollster Robert Chung’s Hong Kong General public Impression Exploration Institute is a co-organiser.

Chung stated authorities arrived at his office and he “negotiated” with police to attempt to understand the foundation for their lookup warrant. He said police copied some information from pcs.

Police confirmed they had searched his place of work.

“The police been given a report from the public that the computer system method of a polling organisation was suspected of becoming hacked and some individual details of the public was leaked,” law enforcement claimed in a statement.

“The investigation is still ongoing and no a single has been arrested.”

Chung instructed a news meeting early on Saturday he was apprehensive the information and facts police received could be used in other investigations but would do his most effective to secure his sources. He did not describe the mother nature of the details taken.

“We received an oral assure that they wouldn’t use it for other investigations,” Chung mentioned.

Former Hong Kong democracy lawmaker Au Nok-hin reported he thought the raid was related to the primary elections and was aimed at stoking dread in the group.

Chung’s organisation done a few community impression polls for Reuters on how residents of the metropolis saw the sometimes violent pro-democracy protest movement that started in 2019. The surveys were executed in December, March and June.

In the most latest poll, virtually 50 percent of Hong Kong inhabitants polled claimed they were “very a great deal opposed” to Beijing’s go to employ nationwide stability legislation in the town.

Beijing imposed the nationwide security legislation just ahead of midnight on 30 June, making crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces punishable with up to everyday living in prison.

The main elections come in advance of Legislative Council polls on 6 September, when the pro-democracy camp hopes to protected a 35-in addition the vast majority in the legislature, offering it electrical power to block federal government proposals and most likely paralyse the administration.