Police in the southeastern city of Daegu raided city hall on Friday as part of an investigation into an alleged violation of the public official election law by Mayor Hong Joon-pyo.

The Daegu Metropolitan Police sent over ten investigators for the search and seizure at the municipal government office, but the mayor himself was not included in the search warrant.

The raid comes a week after a clash last Saturday between Hong and the Daegu police over road occupation by the city's queer culture festival, with the mayor attempting to forcibly prevent the event from taking place despite organizers acquiring the necessary approval.

While the police denied that the raid is retaliatory in nature as it pertains to an earlier complaint, Hong took to social media to call the police "gangsters," slamming the state agency for suppressing public duties and retaliating against public officials.

Back in February, a local civic group filed a complaint with the prosecution against Hong and a city official in charge of its YouTube channel, accusing them of violating the public official election law.