UPDATE 1-Hong Kong independent pollster says police arrive at office with search warrant

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By Anne Marie Roantree

HONG KONG, July 10 (Reuters) - Hong Kong authorities arrived with a search warrant at the office of an independent political pollster on Friday, more than a week after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation that has sent a chill across the city.

Robert Chung told Reuters authorities arrived at his office late in the evening and he was "negotiating" with police and trying to understand the basis for the search warrant.

Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, Chung, who has repeatedly been criticised by pro-Beijing forces who question the accuracy of his polls, broke away from a polling operation he oversaw at the University of Hong Kong to set up his independent Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (HKPORI).

Chung's HKPORI conducted three public opinion polls for Reuters on how residents of the city saw the protest movement that began in 2019. The surveys were conducted in December, March and June.

In the most recent poll, almost half of Hong Kong residents said they were 'very much opposed' to Beijing's move to implement national security legislation in Hong Kong.

The poll also showed support for the protest movement fading even as most people continued to voice support for its key demands, including universal suffrage and the resignation of Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam.

One question in the survey asked residents if they supported independence for Hong Kong, a political call that has already become a target under China's new security law.

Of those surveyed, 21 percent said they supported an independent Hong Kong, about unchanged from March. Opposition to the idea was at 60 percent.

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

Both Hong Kong and Chinese government officials have said the law is vital to plug gaping holes in national security defences exposed by months of sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests that rocked the city over the last year.

They have said action was vital given the city's failure to pass such laws by itself as required under its mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law.

Hong Kong democracy lawmaker Au Lok-hin said he believed the raid was related to primary elections that are due to take place in the city over the weekend.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reason for the raid.

The election seeks to select the candidates with the best chance of achieving a 35-plus majority in elections in September, giving them power to block government proposals and potentially paralyse the administration.

Pro-Beijing lawmakers have said that the democrats' aim to disrupt the city's administration could lead to a constitutional crisis. (Reporting By Anne Marie Roantree and Carol Mang; Editing by William Maclean)