Hongkongers don't want Snowden handed over to the US, according to poll

Half of Hong Kong people believe that cyberspying whistle-blower Edward Snowden should not be handed over if Washington makes a formal request for his return, according to an exclusive opinion poll commissioned by the Sunday Morning Post.

The poll results, in which only 17.6 per cent of respondents thought Snowden should be sent back, come after hundreds took to the streets yesterday to demand that the 29-year-old former CIA analyst - who is hiding out in the city - not be sent back to the US where he is the subject of a criminal investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The findings also came as Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying broke his silence on one of the most diplomatically sensitive episodes in the city's history, saying the case would be handled in accordance with the "laws and established procedures of Hong Kong … when the relevant mechanism is activated".

Leung said the government would "follow up on any incidents related to the privacy or other rights of the institutions or people in Hong Kong being violated". The statement is a clear reference to claims by Snowden in an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post last week, that the US National Security Agency has hacked into computers in Hong Kong and on the mainland for years.

Snowden also said the US was "trying to bully" Hong Kong over his possible surrender, but last night a government source said: "Under no circumstances can the US bully Hong Kong in any way."

The source rejected as "total nonsense" US media reports that Hong Kong and US government lawyers were working together on the Snowden case.